The emerging physics of consciousness / Jack A. Tuszynski (ed.).

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Tuszynski, J. A.

Series:

Frontiers collection 1612-3018

The frontiers collection, 1612-3018

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consciousness.

Consciousness--physiology.

Physics--methods.

Quantum Theory.

Medical Subjects:

Consciousness--physiology.

Physics--methods.

Quantum Theory.

Physical Description:

xv, 487 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Springer, 2006.

Summary:

Consciousness remains one of the major unsolved problems in science. How do the feelings and sensations making up conscious experience arise from the concerted actions of nerve cells and their associated synaptic and molecular processes? Can such feelings be explained by modern science, or is there an entirely different kind of explanation needed? And how can this seemingly intractable problem be approached experimentally? How do the operations of the conscious mind emerge out of the specific interactions involving billions of neurons? This book seeks answers to these questions on the underlying assumption that consciousness can be understood using the intellectual potential of modern physics and other sciences. There are a number of theories of consciousness, some based on classical physics while others require the use of quantum concepts. The latter ones have drawn criticism from the parts of the scientific establishment while simultaneously claiming that classical approaches are doomed to failure. The contributing authors present a spectrum of opinions from both sides of this on-going scientific debate, allowing readers to decide for themselves which of the approaches are most likely to succeed.

Contents:

The path ahead / Jack A. Tuszynski, Nancy Woolf

Consciousness and quantum physics: empirical research on the subjective reduction of the statevector / Dick J. Bierman, Stephen Whitmarsh

Microtubules in the cerebral cortex: role in memory and consciousness / Nancy J. Woolf

Towards experimental tests of quantum effects in cytoskeletal proteins / Andreas Mershin ... [et al.]

Physicalism, chaos and reductionism / Alwyn Scott

Consciousness, neurobiology and quantum mechanics: the case for a connection / Stuart Hameroff

Life, catalysis and excitable media: a dynamic systems approach to metabolism and cognition / Christopher James Davia

The dendritic cytoskeleton as a computational device: an hypothesis / Avner Priel, Jack A. Tuszynski, Horacion F. Cantiello

Recurrent quantum neural network and its applications / Laxmidhar Behera, Indrani Kar, Avshalom C. Elitzur

Microtubules as a quantum Hopfield network / Elizabeth C. Behrman ... [et al.]

Consciousness and quantum brain dynamics / Gordon Globus

The CEMI field theory: seven clues to the nature of consciousness / Johnjoe McFadden

Quantum cosmology and the hard problem of the conscious brain / Chris King

Consciousness and logic in a quantum computing universe / Paola Zizzi.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

3540238905

OCLC:

70840489

Publisher Number:

9783540238904