[FRIAM] How to Repurpose Your Old Gadgets Step away from the trash bin!

[Russ Abbott]

Sorry, this should have been a new topic.

-- Russ Abbott
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles


On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 1:27 PM Russ Abbott <russ.abbott at gmail.com> wrote:

> Does anyone think there is anything to this
> <https://neurosciencenews.com/electromagnetic-consciousness-17191/>?
>
> Electromagnetic energy in the brain enables brain matter to create our
> consciousness and our ability to be aware and think, according to a new
> theory developed by Professor Johnjoe McFadden from the University of
> Surrey.
>
> When neurons in the brain and nervous system fire, they not only send the
> familiar electrical signal down the wire-like nerve fibres, but they also
> send a pulse of electromagnetic energy into the surrounding tissue. Such
> energy is usually disregarded, yet it carries the same information
> as nerve firings, but as an immaterial wave of energy, rather than a flow
> of atoms in and out of the nerves.
>
> This electromagnetic field is well-known and is routinely detected by
> brain-scanning techniques such as electroencephalogram (EEG) and
> magnetoencephalography (MEG) but has previously been dismissed as
> irrelevant to brain function. Instead, McFadden proposes that the brain’s
> information-rich electromagnetic field is in fact itself the seat of
> consciousness, driving ‘free will’ and voluntary actions.
>
> This new theory also accounts for why, despite their immense complexity
> and ultra-fast operation, today’s computers have not exhibited the
> slightest spark of consciousness; however, with the right technical
> development, robots that are aware and can think for themselves could
> become a reality.
>
> Johnjoe McFadden, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Director of the
> Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Centre at the University of Surrey, said:
> “How brain matter becomes aware and manages to think is a mystery that has
> been pondered by philosophers, theologians, mystics and ordinary people for
> millennia. I believe this mystery has now been solved, and
> that consciousness is the experience of nerves plugging into the brain’s
> self-generated electromagnetic field to drive what we call ‘free will’ and
> our voluntary actions.”
>
>
> I'm especially concerned about the final sentence that claims that
> consciousness is *the experience* of nerves plugging into the brain's
> electromagnetic field.
>
> That seems to assume what it's trying to explain. Even if all the rest of
> it makes sense (and I'm not in a position to judge), what does it mean for
> nerves to "experience" anything? Isn't that the issue to be explained?
>
>
> -- Russ Abbott
> Professor, Computer Science
> California State University, Los Angeles
>
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