Possible Superluminal Propagation inside Conscious Beings
arXiv Preprint Archive January 28, 2020 via arXiv
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThe fact that first-person conscious perceptions contain many bits of information strongly suggests they are produced nonlocally by the effects of many atoms, possibly via nonlocal quantum operators. If these operators act back on the quantum state of atoms, they could cause signals to propagate faster than light, violating the usual causality of local quantum field theory. Although there is no direct evidence yet that such nonlocal operators associated with psycho-physical parallelism act back on the quantum state, it is not totally implausible. In principle, the resulting superluminal propagation might be observable by sending signals across brain regions that lead to conscious perceptions.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Physics.gen-ph |
| Key finding | First-person conscious perceptions may be produced nonlocally by quantum operators, potentially allowing superluminal signal propagation across brain regions. |
Abstract
The fact that first-person conscious perceptions or sentient experiences have many bits of information strongly suggests that they are produced nonlocally by the effects of many atoms, say by nonlocal quantum operators. If these nonlocal operators act back on the quantum state of the atoms, they could lead to evolution in which signals propagate superluminally, violating the usual causality of local quantum field theory. Although there is not yet any direct evidence that nonlocal operators associated with psycho-physical parallelism act back on the quantum state, it is not totally implausible that this might be the case. In principle the resulting superluminal propagation might be observable by sending signals across brain regions (neural correlates of consciousness) that lead to conscious perceptions.