I am posting this blog that counters the monistic proposal for mind-body interaction by David Bohm and gives further justification for dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the material synaptic networks of the human brain. The blog considers the quantum wave potential described by Bohm and suggests that it is the product of the mind rather than an entity within a monistic perspective.
The Mind and the Quantum Wave Potential
In my Hypothesis, stated at the beginning of Chapter Seven of my book, Nerve Endings of the Soul: Interaction between the Mind of God and the Mind of Man through Neural Synaptic Networks, it is proposed that a nonmaterial energy from the Mind of God induces the synaptic transmission of encoded specified information within spike trains of action potentials to the mind of Man by quantum tunneling across synaptic clefts. That the human cognitive mind is created in the image of the Mind of God, the same process for neural transmission through synaptic networks is likely by this created process. In this blog I will address how the mathematical expression of the quantum wave potential might relate to dualist interaction between the immaterial Mind of God/mind of Man and the material synaptic networks of the human brain. In my discussion I will be referring to the work of David Bohm, Hiley and Pylkkanen, John C. Eccles, Friedrich Beck, Stephen Meyer and William A. Dembski in particular. Much of what I am sharing has been presented in my books and earlier blogs, but I will consolidate what I have presented and include information from recent scientific articles that consider the “quantum wave potential,” a mathematical entity described by David Bohm in the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation.
Eccles and Beck designated quantum tunneling as the “trigger” for synaptic transmission when the mind willfully transmits specified, encoded programs through neural synaptic networks. Their proposal suggested how quantum tunneling could play a role in controlling the frequency of synaptic exocytosis, a stochastic process. Beck and Eccles proposed that quantum tunneling would enable the “self” to control its brain without violating the energy conservation law. Hiley and Pylkkanen have described a relationship between wave functions and quantum tunnelling. The question I propose is as follows: Does the cognitive mind activate the “trigger” by generating wave functions, or wave forms, that transmit quasiparticles (electrons) through the voltage potential barriers of synapses by tunneling in the cerebral cortex? [Basil J. Hiley and Paavo Pylkkanen, “Can Mind Affect Matter Via Active Information?” Mind and Matter, Vol. 3(2), 2005, pp. 7-27] The authors acknowledged the work of Eccles and Beck and elaborated on it by considering the role of a quantum wave potential described in mathematical detail by David Bohm in quantum tunneling. (D. Bohm, “A New Theory of the Relationship of Mind and Matter, Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 3, 1990, pp. 271-286; F. Beck and J.C. Eccles, “Quantum Aspects of Brain Activity and the Role of Consciousness,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 89, 1992, pp 11357-11361; F. Beck, Quantum Brain Dynamics and Consciousness, The Physical Nature of Consciousness, ed. By P. van Loocke, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 83-116)
Hiley and Pylkkanen proposed that the quantum energy involved in synaptic transmission is a form of internal energy distinct from kinetic and classical potential energy that transmits what Bohm called a new type of “active information.” The energy proposed is associated with simultaneous position and momentum determinants of quantum entities in contrast to the long-accepted Copenhagen perspective of indeterminism. How do quasi-particles (electrons) associated with quantum waves penetrate voltage potential barriers? By applying Bohm mechanics to tunneling they proposed that the wave form of a quasi-particle goes through a potential barrier depending on the position of the particle in the oncoming wave function. The total energy of the process is conserved because there is a redistribution of energy between the kinetic energy, the classical potential energy and the quantum potential energy described by David Bohm. Particles at the front of the wave function, or specified wave form, pass through the barrier by tunneling while those at the rear are reflected before they reach the barrier. The third group of trajectories remain inside the voltage barrier for a time. The quantum wave potential was described as having active information for the particles. At the quantum level this information was stated to organize and give direction to the dynamic evolution of quantum wave and quasi-particle flow in double-slit experiments. Could the proposed quantum wave potential also give direction to wave forms and quasiparticles through neural synaptic networks? The quantum wave potential energy is expressed in the shape or form of the wave rather than in its amplitude, accounting for the conservation of energy in tunneling. Hiley and Pylkkanen considered the quantum wave potential to have a physical, deterministic aspect by its influence on the kinetic and potential energies at synaptic voltage barriers in synaptic entities. A relationship was suggested between an internal energy and the material synaptic components without violation of the law of conservation of energy as proposed by Beck and Eccles.
The concept of a “new active information” in its role in quantum tunneling was not attributed to the cognitive mind by Bohm, but he stated that it had “mind-like” qualities. He considered that the mind was not distinct from the physical aspects of synaptic transmission, the two processes being essentially the same. He stated that “what we experience as mind . . . will, in a natural way, ultimately move the body by reaching the level of the quantum potential and of the ‘dance’ of the particles” involved in quantum tunneling. He posited that “in some sense a rudimentary mind-like quality is present even at the level of particle physics . . . there is no real division between mind and matter, psyche and soma.” He referred to “a greater collective mind . . . going indefinitely beyond even the human species as a whole.”
I cited Stephen Meyer in my blog post entitled “Waves in Our Brains,” Part Three (http://estanlennard.com) who stated “our uniform experience affirms that specified or functional information . . . always arises from an intelligent source, from a mind (Italics added),” and I emphasized that it refers to an immaterial mind. The direction given to a quantum wave and quasiparticle through neural synaptic networks would ultimately be by the intent of a mind, an intellect, with design and purpose. In my three blogs, each entitled “Waves in Our Brains,” I have given a compelling reason to believe that the cognitive mind of humans generates wave forms. We see that they have amplitude and frequency as well as the shape and form that has been attributed to the action of the quantum wave potential. (Scott R. Cole and Bradley Voytek, “Brain Oscillations and the Importance of Waveform Shape,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2017, Vol 21, No. 2, pp 137-149) I suggest, therefore, that it is the cognitive mind of Man (and of God) that determines the direction of encoded trajectories of spike trains of action potentials through synaptic networks. The question that is posed is if the internal energy of the quantum wave potential relates to the wave forms generated by the cognitive mind of Man (as well as of the Mind of God) that have been documented by electrocarticography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. This topic has been discussed in the “Waves in Our Brains” series. It is proposed that it is instantiated information from a mind that gives the wave form direction by its shape, phase and also by its frequency and amplitude. As a wave form is transmitted across pyramidal modules in the cerebral cortex the “detector function” described by Eccles within pyramidal modules matches the wave form that is being transmitted from the mind/Mind with intrinsic patterns within modules to form synchronous, coherent waves according to their shape and to their amplitude and frequency, a process that includes entrainment and cross frequency coupling. Direction is thereby given to the trajectories of spike trains of action potentials transmitted through synaptic networks. Modular neural activity is highly plastic and varied across the primary site of cognition, the cerebral cortex. By this process of matching, which is under active investigation in our day, direction is given to wave forms emanating from the mind’s intent that are linguistically encoded with information for meaning, specified purposes and actions (e.g. speaking, moving extremities, thinking, etc.) I offer that the quantum wave potential, if it exists, may reflect a causal effect of a mind that gives specified information to the processes and trajectories of quantum tunneling and synaptic transmission.
In “Waves in Our Brains,” Part Three I quoted Stephen Meyer who stated, “…in using language the human mind routinely generates highly improbable linguistic sequences to convey a preconceived idea. In the process of thought, functional objectives precede and constrain the selection of words, sounds, and symbols to generate functional sequences from a vast ensemble of meaningless alternatives . . . intelligent agents can select functional goals before the goals are physically instantiated . . . they can then actualize those goals in accord with a preconceived design plan or set of functional requirements.” Linguistic sequences are transmitted by wave forms constituting neural codes within spike trains of action potentials that are interpreted by the cognitive mind of humans and archived in memory.
I propose that the Mind of God and the mind of Man can by this process channel random synaptic events toward preordained, specified ends. The immaterial wave forms emitted from a mind/Mind are selected from initially random, or indeterministic, probabilities and given specification and direction possibly by an action of the proposed quantum wave potential. The role in the tunneling process of wave form amplitude is not directly addressed by Bohm and appears to be mathematically discounted, giving primary importance to wave form shape. I propose that the quantum wave potential emanates from, or is influenced by, the intent of a mind that imparts information to the shape of the wave form that determines trajectory direction through cortical modules and downstream synaptic networks. The wave forms are entrained with the wave forms of specific cortical neural modules to form synchronized spike trains of wave forms that are linguistically encoded and transmitted through coherent networks with meaning, purpose and intended action. The synaptic networks are referred to as nerve endings of the soul in my first book. Through a lifetime of learning and experience the cognitive mind interprets the neural codes, whether in sensation or motor function. Could this be in part the process by which communion occurs between the Mind of God and the mind of Man?
David Bohm postulated a monistic perspective of mind-body interaction. The proposal offered in this blog is in support of a dualist interaction between the immaterial mind and the material synaptic networks of the human brain.