The Emerging Physics of Consciousness (The Frontiers Collection)

Consciousness is one of the major unsolved problems in science. How do the feelings and sensations making up conscious experience arise from the concerted actions of nerve cells and their associated synaptic and molecular processes? Can such feelings be explained by modern science, or is there an entirely different kind of explanation needed? And how can this seemingly intractable problem be approached experimentally? How do the operations of the conscious mind emerge out of the specific interactions involving billions of neurons? This multi-authored book seeks answers to these questions within a range of physically based frameworks, i.e, the underlying assumption is that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness in existence, some of which are based on classical physics while some others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn a lot of criticism from the present-day scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. This book presents the reader with a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, letting him/her decide which of these approaches are most likely to succeed. The Path Ahead / Jack A. Tuszynski, Nancy Woolf -- Consciousness And Quantum Physics : Empirical Research On The Subjective Reduction Of The Statevector / Dick J. Bierman, Stephen Whitmarsh -- Microtubules In The Cerebral Cortex : Role In Memory And Consciousness / Nancy J. Woolf -- Towards Experimental Tests Of Quantum Effects In Cytoskeletal Proteins / Andreas Mershin ... [et Al.] -- Physicalism, Chaos And Reductionism / Alwyn Scott -- Consciousness, Neurobiology And Quantum Mechanics : The Case For A Connection / Stuart Hameroff -- Life, Catalysis And Excitable Media : A Dynamic Systems Approach To Metabolism And Cognition / Christopher James Davia -- The Dendritic Cytoskeleton As A Computational Device : An Hypothesis / Avner Priel, Jack A. Tuszynski, Horacion F. Cantiello -- Recurrent Quantum Neural Network And Its Applications / Laxmidhar Behera, Indrani Kar, Avshalom C. Elitzur -- Microtubules As A Quantum Hopfield Network / Elizabeth C. Behrman ... [et Al.] -- Consciousness And Quantum Brain Dynamics / Gordon Globus -- The Cemi Field Theory : Seven Clues To The Nature Of Consciousness / Johnjoe Mcfadden -- Quantum Cosmology And The Hard Problem Of The Conscious Brain / Chris King -- Consciousness And Logic In A Quantum Computing Universe / Paola Zizzi. Jack A. Tuszynski (ed.). Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Consciousness remains one of the major unsolved problems in science. How do the feelings and sensations making up conscious experience arise from the concerted actions of nerve cells and their associated synaptic and molecular processes? Can such feelings be explained by modern science, or is there an entirely different kind of explanation needed? And how can this seemingly intractable problem be approached experimentally? How do the operations of the conscious mind emerge out of the specific interactions involving billions of neurons? This book seeks answers to these questions on the underlying assumption that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness, some based on classical physics while others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn criticism from the parts of the scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. The contributing authors present a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, allowing readers to decide for themselves which of the approaches are most likely to succeed. The Path Ahead....Pages 1-26 Consciousness and Quantum Physics: Empirical Research on the Subjective Reduction of the Statevector....Pages 27-48 Microtubules in the Cerebral Cortex: Role in Memory and Consciousness....Pages 49-94 Towards Experimental Tests of Quantum Effects in Cytoskeletal Proteins....Pages 95-170 Physicalism, Chaos and Reductionism....Pages 171-191 Consciousness, Neurobiology and Quantum Mechanics: The Case for a Connection....Pages 193-253 Life, Catalysis and Excitable Media: A Dynamic Systems Approach to Metabolism and Cognition....Pages 255-292 The Dendritic Cytoskeleton as a Computational Device: An Hypothesis....Pages 293-325 Recurrent Quantum Neural Network and its Applications....Pages 327-350 Microtubules as a Quantum Hopfield Network....Pages 351-370 Consciousness and Quantum Brain Dynamics....Pages 371-385 The CEMI Field Theory: Seven Clues to the Nature of Consciousness....Pages 387-406 Quantum Cosmology and the Hard Problem of the Conscious Brain....Pages 407-456 Consciousness and Logic in a Quantum-Computing Universe....Pages 457-481 Seeks answers to these questions using the underlying assumption that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness, some based on classical physics while others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn criticism from the parts of the scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. The contributing authors presents a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, allowing readers to decide for themselves which of the approaches are most likely to succeed.