Qualia and Phenomenal Consciousness Arise From the Information Structure of an Electromagnetic Field in the Brain

Abstract

In this paper we address the following problems and provide realistic answers to them: (1) What could be the physical substrate for subjective, phenomenal, consciousness (P-consciousness)? Our answer: the electromagnetic (EM) field generated by the movement and changes of electrical charges in the brain. (2) Is this substrate generated in some particular part of the brains of conscious entities or does it comprise the entirety of the brain/body? Our answer: a part of the thalamus in mammals, and homologous parts of other brains generates the critical EM field. (3) From whence arise the qualia experienced in P-consciousness? Our answer, the relevant EM field is “structured” by emulating in the brain the information in EM fields arising from both external (the environment) and internal (the body) sources. (4) What differentiates the P-conscious EM field from other EM fields, e.g., the flux of photons scattered from object surfaces, the EM field of an electro-magnet, or the EM fields generated in the brain that do not enter P-consciousness, such as those generated in the retina or occipital cortex, or those generated in brain areas that guide behavior through visual information in persons exhibiting “blindsight”? Our answer: living systems express a boundary between themselves and the environment, requiring them to model (coarsely emulate) information from their environment in order to control through actions, to the extent possible, the vast sea of variety in which they are immersed. This model, expressed in an EM field, is P-consciousness. The model is the best possible representation of the moment-to-moment niche-relevant (action-relevant: affordance) information an organism can generate (a Gestalt). Information that is at a lower level than niche-relevant, such as the unanalyzed retinal vector-field, is not represented in P-consciousness because it is not niche-relevant. Living organisms have sensory and other systems that have evolved to supply such information, albeit in a coarse form.

Consciousness and inward electromagnetic field interactions

“…A more spherical plot indicates higher degrees of freedom in EEG signals, allowing the attractor to explore more regions of the complexity landscape. The anesthetic-induced collapse of the attractor certainly fits with an anesthetic-induced collapse of information integration that occurs at loss of consciousness (Oizumi et al, 2014;Sarasso et al, 2015;Tononi et al, 2016;MacIver, 2018, 2021;Eagleman et al, 2018aEagleman et al, ,b, 2019Ward and Guevara, 2022). A more sophisticated approach would measure both electric and magnetic fields, together with photonic energies (Salari et al, 2021), and combine these into multi-dimensional attractors.…”

Don’t forget the boundary problem! How EM field topology can address the overlooked cousin to the binding problem for consciousness

“…EM-field ToCs regularly reference the ease with which they defeat the binding problem, typically noting that fields are ontologically unified by their physical nature and automatically integrate all the information contained in the underlying EM activity that generates them (Jones, 2016;Keppler, 2021;Ward and Guevara, 2022;McFadden, 2023;etc.). However, the discussion of boundary problem issues is typically more implicit and does not account for all the concerns raised or implied by Rosenberg.…”

“…Invocations of rapid declining strength with distance are found elsewhere in EM-theorists' accounts of boundaries. Ward and Guevara (2022) say at "distances larger than a few centimetres, the activity of non-synchronised neuronal networks is indistinguishable from neural noise." However, Ward and Guevara acknowledge the deeper issues of Rosenberg's concern, noting that the brain has many EM fields, with various nested and overlapping sizes and boundaries, and asking which create our subjective perspectives.…”

Electromagnetic-field theories of qualia: can they improve upon standard neuroscience?

“…In contrast to Pockett’s global qualia in specific kinds of EM fields, Ward and Guevara (2022) localize qualia in the fields generated by a particular part of the brain. Their intriguing thesis is that our consciousness and its qualia are based primarily on structures in thalamic EM fields which serve to model environmental and bodily information in ways relevant to controlling action.…”