Is Consciousness Irreducible?
What is meant by irreducible? Scientists have historically used a reductionist model to break down that which couldn’t be understood to smaller into more readily understood pieces. Using this strategy to better understand consciousness has thus far been unsuccessful. That may be because consciousness cannot be reduced to the brain or the matter that makes it up.
I think the brain is essentially a computer and consciousness is like a computer program. It will cease to run when the computer is turned off. Theoretically, it could be re-created on a neural network, but that would be very difficult, as it would require all one's memories. — Stephen Hawking
It is easy to find intelligent individuals that find comfort in the certainty that physicalism offers. The terms scientific materialism and physicalism are often used interchangeably and the arguments being made are somewhat similar. Scientific materialism has been around since at least the 1700s.
However, the term materialism has become more conflated with the more mainstream 21st century meaning of material goods and services rather the science of matter. In this context, materialism can get mixed up with being materialistic when not prefixed with the word scientific as a qualifier.
Using the term physicalism instead often avoids much of this mental jumble as it was only introduced around the 1930s. I don’t like to consider physicalism and scientific materialism synonymous though because of their different histories. Suffice it to say, scientific materialism has been the mainstay of science or the status quo for many centuries.
The scientific method is predicated on the belief that an objective reality exists. This method is reliant on the observation, measurement and the consistency of outcomes. Science is also based on laws derived from these observations through one’s own subjective and external sensory inputs. We believe in the information that our senses provide to us about the physical world and have faith enough to act on that information.
The rejection of any source of evidence is always treason to that ultimate rationalism which urges forward science and philosophy alike. — A. N. Whitehead, The Function of Reason
This comes a point where the nature of wave particle duality and the hard problem of consciousness may come into play. It depends on whether an individual decides to incorporate it into their study or actively avoid it. The observer effect describes how observation or measurement of something being studied changes the outcome.
Whether what is being observed behaves differently because it’s consciously aware of being observed or not is the source of much contention. Physicalism argues that matter shouldn’t have such self-awareness or sentience. If one assumes that matter creates consciousness, this resistance makes sense.
No one can claim to be a subject matter on consciousness because the hard problem of consciousness remains unsolved. Many scientists are after a simple either/or outcome to offer proof of whether science or spirituality is right. I don’t care about being right. I’m just a seeker of truth, whatever that may be. I have biases like anyone else though. Seeking answers with an open mind is the way scientific method was intended to be applied. Lack of human objectivity often gets in the way though.
For those that would like to detour and learn more by consuming bite sized portions of the arguments being made in the many textual tomes called books, I can suggest no better free video series than those linked below. Whether to read this short post before watching these more longer form video links is left up to the reader’s discretion.
Neuroscientific Evidence – You Are Not Just A Brain – Irreducible Mind Part 1
The Hard Problem Of Consciousness – Mind Over Matter – Irreducible Mind Part 2
Quantum Biology – Is Your Soul Quantum? – Irreducible Mind Part 4
No proof for a physical basis for consciousness has been shown to exist. — Neuroscientific Evidence – Irreducible Mind, Part 1
Despite this lack of evidence, many have put tremendous faith in the concept of consciousness arising from physical brain matter.
Quantum Thought has been defined as the ability to have two opposing thoughts simultaneously. Classical thought works on a either/or paradigm which doesn’t allow for any gray area.
Quantum Biology is something that an open mind can more readily consider as possibility. However, consideration still isn't acceptance. A closed or fixed mind can often instantly refute the same idea without consideration. As mentioned earlier, an open mind is the most compatible with the scientific method.
One of the more major paradigm shifts showcased in this video series is evidence that quantum mechanics isn’t limited to working only at the subatomic level. Quantum mechanics at the macroscopic level was previously thought to be the too problematic but is covered in Quantum Biology – Part 4. This also isn’t the first time that I’ve brought up evidence of Quantum Biology for discussion.
[The data] strongly reinforces our belief in the human soul & in its miraculous origin. — John Eccles, neurophysiologist
Belief and faith are not synonymous but are often conflated. This is because they’re interdependent upon one another. Understanding their interdependence is fundamental to the knowing the difference between them. Belief is about the choice we make to accept any given knowledge as truth. How one determines what to internalize as truth is not the subject of this post though. Faith is about acting from a place of trust after choosing to believe any given knowledge as truth.
Religion requires faith based but faith itself doesn’t require religion to exist. You don’t have to be religious to be spiritual. Faith has survived despite the many collective blunders of humanity. Faith is active while belief is passive knowledge. Religion, spirituality and science are all belief based systems.
However, viewing faith through a reductionist lens has lead to ignorant definitions like faith is belief without evidence. In this statement, the two have been conflated for simplicity and the meaning of both are diluted. Physicalists believe that consciousness comes from brain matter and they’ve defended their faith for a long time.
It is often not a lack of faith than causes one to be stuck but a lack of belief. Both the lack of belief in ourselves and others affects how we perceive and judge the faith of others. Science, spirituality and faith are all tools that can help us better understand our place in the universe.
Whether one chooses to dismiss some and only accept some is one of the freedoms that comes with being an individual. To some, this is problematic and they eschew individuality in favor of the collective. A common misconception here is that uniformity equals unity. Again though, this tangent falls outside the scope of this post.
The mind is a function of the brain and is created from biological matter. — Suzanne O’Sullivan, Neurologist
The universe consists of matter, energy, information and that which has yet to be discovered. A physicalist holds the beliefs that everything in the universe is matter and that even energy equates to matter. Matter and energy though are about the same as the phase state changes of liquid, gas and solid are. No scientist would claim that these states of matter equate to the others. So, let’s explore an example of something our senses can detect but isn’t matter.
Matter is defined here as anything that has physical mass and volume. For example, the human body has both. While matter can contain energy or be converted into energy, that doesn’t mean matter and energy are equal. Matter has locality and can only occupy volume at one location at one time. Since matter has both mass and locality, this restricts the momentum it can achieve.
Ever wonder what’s inside the fiber cables that power the internet? Light. That light is made up of many photons. Photons have neither mass nor volume. A photon is a carrier of electromagnetic force and each photon has a frequency. The higher the frequency, the more energy the photon has. Photons aren’t always visible though as is the case with sound and electrical signals. What’s inside all these photons? Information waiting to be deciphered and consumed, of course.
Nonlocality put simply is the state of being everywhere all at once. Nonlocality makes use of the quantum mechanics of superposition and entanglement to achieve this. Neither of these terms will be discussed here but are highlighted for outside study.
A photon having no mass, volume and being nonlocal means that it can travel at the speed of light. A photon has greater flexibility using what’s more akin to both/and behavior. Besides light which is composed of many photons, let’s explore a non-exhaustive list of other non-material examples.
Fire is matter but the heat and light that come from it aren’t.
Just flipping an electrical switch to the on position in a dark room instantly floods the space with nonlocal light. The switch, wires, light bulb, etcetera are localized matter. The light and heat that are produced aren’t.
Information can be stored within a physical medium. Both the medium and retrieval device are matter. However, the information itself isn’t.
A medium used to store and play music is made of matter. However, the sound that makes up the music isn’t. Neither the vibration nor the information that make up the sound are matter. Likewise for video which is a combination of light and sound.
The thoughts and emotions one may experience while consuming sound and video may present as physical brain chemistry but the emotions themselves don’t have mass or volume.
Memories, dreams, creativity, curiosity and imagination don’t come from matter but instead arise from consciousness.
Matter can be reduced down but can everything that isn’t physical be reduced down too? No, a new model would seem to be necessary for scientists. Until then, exploring the immaterial though a reductionist lens means they'll likely remain at odds with it.