Scientific New Theory:Consciousness arises from electromagnetic energy

 

Professor Johnjoe McFadden, a researcher from the Univerity of Surrey within the UK, has proposed a replacement theory for consciousness. He says that electromagnetic energy within the brain enables neurons and areas of the brain to get consciousness and our ability to think critically. 

“How brain matter becomes aware and manages to think may be a mystery that has been pondered by philosophers, theologians, mystics and ordinary people for millennia,” he says. “I believe this mystery has now been solved, which consciousness is that the experience of nerves plugging into the brain’s self-generated electromagnetic field to drive what we call ‘free will’ and our voluntary actions.”

Whereas earlier theories of consciousness tended towards supernatural explanations and an immaterial soul in what s referred to as dualism, most scientists tend to embrace a view that consciousness is generated by the brain itself and its network of billions of neurons. McFadden's new theory, against this , is somewhat different. Instead, he has proposed a scientific sort of dualism supported the difference between matter and energy. 

When neurons fire within the brain, they both send an electrical pulse down nerve fibers and electromagnetic energy into the encompassing tissue. While this energy has usually been disregarded as irrelevant to brain function, it carries an equivalent information as is carried between nerve endings. rather than a flow of atoms between neurons, however, it occurs as an immaterial wave of energy. As such, McFadden suggests that these waves could also be the seat of consciousness- and intrinsically , the drive behind discretion . 

Delving further into his theory, he highlights that previous samples of 'integrated information', like neuronal information and traditional computing, are only temporarily integrated as they're reliant on multiple neuronal inputs for every output. He argues that this suggests they're implemented in time instead of space. As such, they will not correspond to physically integrated information. as long as 'only energy fields are capable of integrating information in space', he thus proposes that electromagnetic information ensures that consciousness are often physically integrated. 

Beyond explaining how consciousness arises, McFadden also believes that this theory may help develop conscious AI, something that has not been done yet thanks to our limited understanding and application of neural networks.