Socrates in Cyberspace The Search for the Soul in the 21st Century

"Philosophy may

be blind without

science, but

science can lack

vision without

philosophy."

"Philosophy

begins with

wonder and aims

at understanding.

Poetry creates

wonder and aims

at transcendence.

Where the two

paths meet, great

distances can be

traversed in a

single leap."

"The self is not

an isolated

entity. I interact,

therefore I am."

“You’re Nothing But A Pack of

Neurons” The scientist Francis Crick summed up

the conventional neuroscientific wisdom

regarding the mystery of consciousness

when he wrote: “You’re nothing but a

pack of neurons.”

… but is Crick’s reductive outlook

on consciousness right?

“Teetering Bulbs of Dread and

Dream”

The ancient philosopher

Heraclitus expressed a

different view regarding

consciousness. He wrote:

“You would not find the

boundaries of the soul,

even by traveling every

path; so deep a measure

does it have.”

“The Uroboros” The Uroboros, the mythical

serpent which consumes its

own tail. The Uroboros is a

symbol that represents the self-

reflexive, cyclical, and eternal

nature of the cosmos.

The Uroboros motif was central

to the work of physicist John

Wheeler . In essence, Wheeler

adopts the Anthropic Principle,

the view that the objective

world only fully comes into

being when it is observed.

Uroboros - The Motif of the

Eternal Return

The Uroboros motif surfaces in art, music, literature, and

philosophy. M.C. Escher’s famous Art Gallery etching

illustrates how the seeming split between subjectivity and

objectivity is an illusion.

Mind and Matter

The physicist Roger Penrose believes that reality

consists of an inter-relationship between three

realms: the physical world, the mental world, and a

Platonic realm of immaterial Ideals.

Mind and The Platonic Realm Here is a snowflake in my hand, like some

white Athens in the palm of history a

moment’s fragile Parthenon . . .

. . . And I a god who holds it as it

dies to sudden dew. This molecule of

world may be the dominion of a

subtler nation, inviolate to our eyes.

If atoms dream what kingdom claims

this melting star of snow! -- Alfred

Dorn

Mind and The Platonic Realm (2)

There are motifs that

repeatedly crop up in

nature. For example, the

Golden Ratio is pattern

that surfaces in seashells,

The Parthenon, and the

arrangement of sunflower

seeds (among other

phenomena)

Each individual instance of beauty is a reflection of something

deeper. The existence of the Golden Ratio suggests that there is

an intrinsic order and a subtle intelligence woven into the fabric

of life. Plato believed that contemplating beautiful things

made the soul more beautiful.

Quantum Consciousness

Numerous thinkers believe that quantum mechanical phenomena

play a role in consciousness. The Uroboros theme is present in the

journey matter has taken from the quantum level towards

consciousness.

“The starry heavens above and the moral law within fill the mind

with an ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more

often and the more steadily we reflect.” -- Kant

Quantum Honeybees?

A scientist named Dr. Barbara Shipman has found that patterns

exhibited by bees coincide very precisely with patterns used to

describe the properties of subatomic particles called quarks. Dr.

Shipman speculates that “the physics of bees bodies, their

physiology, must be constructed so that they’re sensitive to

quantum fields – that is, the bees perceive these fields through

quantum mechanical interactions between the fields and atoms in

the membranes of certain cells.”

I Interact, Therefore I Am? The human brain may

harness quantum

mechanical properties.

For example, a form of

quantum computation

(quantum annealing) may

be taking place at the

protein level within

neurons.

The proper shape of a protein may depend

on quantum factors. Microtubules are

proteins filaments within neurons that are

responsible for the growth and shrinkage

of neurons. The linking of disparate

neurons may depend on quantum factors!

Socrates in Cyberspace “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our

exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place

for the first time.”

-- T.S. Eliot

E-Mail:

neuroscott@aol.com

If quantum mechanical factors are involved in

consciousness, then you are a lot more than a pack

of neurons. As the philosopher Shelling put it: “we

are the eyes and ears of the universe.” Explore the

frontiers of consciousness further by reading

“Socrates in Cyberspace.”

Available at

Amazon