This is week number 2 on Neutral Monism. During this session, Gary took a couple of steps back and reviewed and then more concisely represented some of his ideas on the classification of types of consciousness and world view, by Chalmers -- neutral monism, Type F. Again as indicated last week, it is difficult to summarize many of these complex ideas that Gary has presented to us. I have Gary's notes from his book and I have read through them. As I read the notes and attempt to summarize for this blog, I have ;moments of lucidity alternating with complete bafflement. I must apologize that these notes may not make anything more clear. However, during the next several paragraphs I would like to reproduce some of my notes taken during Gary's recapitulation and summary of his most recent writings on neutral monism, type F.
From my notes, as your timekeeper and facilitator:
Gary would like to summarize by saying that he is now attracted to a viewpoint in which everything is information. The information is local here in the meeting room, but 99% of the information is non local. In the case of Schrodinger theories, as an example, observation grounds or collapses the wave form of information, so that in the example photons go to our eyes and our brain interprets what we then see with those photons. This is indeed type F monism. If we look at a pot, the information of that pot is there whether I look at it or not, but when I look at it, it collapses. I am using my thoughts to consider things which are both local and nonlocal. For each observer, it is different. I have my own information space contributed to by my experience.
What is and what our brain experiences equals subjectivity. As we focus on consciousness as a singularity, and suddenly there is a collapse that wasn't there before. Consciousness produces reality by making the choice and collapsing. Big C Consciousness somehow is grounded and that leads me to make certain choices. Experience is dynamic; it is not pixelated; it is smooth.
Regarding theories of consciousness: Gary condemned the materialistic theories. Scientists still are materialistic.In such theories, many spiritual ideas have been condensed to organic. And the scientific method also with its measurement, proving by experiment etc leads to a materialistic view. The battle between the materialistic view and a spiritual view has been going on for 400 years. But Gary feels it is time for our societal views to move on. Though science has provided wonderful benefits for we humans and for nature in general, it now seems to provide a very limited view and it does not allow for all the knowledge that we have today. Some people find comfort in a reductionist theory. Gary does not so he's writing a book which we have the unique honor of hearing and reading as he writes it and he hopes that his ideas provide a more up to date and better understood view of it all.
The physical is the grounded or collapsed form of information. The question is: does matter lead to consciousness, or does consciousness lead to matter (collapsed). That is a phenomenal theory. Does something cause the matter to collapse or vice versa. These are the prophenomenal theories.
But we are more than just physical. We have experience. Russell, Whitehead, James -- all started looking at matter at the beginning of the quantum physics era. In Newtonian physics, if you know where an atom is, it will always be there forever. But Russell proposed information spaces. They could be 2 bit -- an either/or status, on or off. They could be multiple complexes of 2 bit information. They could be multiple levels of complexity. They can be built with continuous information which becomes non local. In other words there are an infinite number of states. There are 2 dimension, 3 dimension, multi dimensions to an infinity of information spaces.
Gary has sought to find a description of the perception of our world. As a description, he likes the comment: "We are all bozos on this bus." He has found a narrative that fits his view of the world. Our understanding of the physical world is causal. Phenomenal quality is non local. Gary says: "My understanding of a 'red ball' has to be with an information space in my brain and is realized phenomenally. Chalmers called this a bridge between the physical and the phenomenal." On a local level, perception is a pattern of energy in the brain, a pattern of neurons firing, etc. These local spaces add up to nonlocal relationships and ultimately add up to attunement between people. As I process the physical in my brain it ultimately becomes phenomenal. In type F monism, consciousness and information are together. They exist together. Now it gets metaphysical. It is like two being one. They are one outside of space time. They appear as two in space time.
The use of the term "proto-phenomenal information/Consciousness seems to Gary to be impersonal, laborious and even smacking a little of a duality. And it is cumbersome. So Gary proposes a change to the phrase "the Kingdom of heaven."
"We are used to this term historically in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The use of this phrase suggests a continuum between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God with the waking consciousness of man. The seemingly finite consciousness of man is connected with the infinite Consciousness of nonlocal space. Therefore, man's consciousness is also infinite. This idea is consistent with NDE's and OBEs which are otherwise impossible to characterize. This idea is also most consistent with other phenomena like hypnosis and the placebo effect, whereby expectations determine outcomes, as well as telepathy, when one mind seems to be in contact with another. Further, this is the essence of neutral monism, protophenomenal information/Consciousness, and, therefore, is appropriately consistent with quantum concerns regarding the observer. "
Quoting from Gary's notes: "In summary, I hope to have developed to this point a curiosity and an understanding of the quantum nature of the universe, a result of all the potential quantum superpositions, and existing as a manifestation of the information of nonlocal space, including the phenomenality of consciousness. I believe this phenomenality is ultimately the Consciousness, the deeper reality and cause. It continues to inform the universe. To it, we and all conscious life add our own experience as a significant element of the expansion of that infinite Consciousness.
"Further, I find the metaphor of "the Kingdom of Heaven" aptly captures and unifies the complexity and spirit of the superficially diverse phenomena, including Consciousness, nonlocal wave functions of information, and neutral monism. It is 'a deeply integrated and elegant view.' "
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