FOM & CIIS PROUDLY PRESENT
Quantum Mechanics Meets Neurodynamics:
An Emerging 21st Century Science of Consciousness
A Conference Announcement and Invitation
In Honor of the Late Walter Freeman
on the 90th Anniversary of his Birth
January 27, 2017 • CIIS 1453 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103
The
recently deceased Karl Pribram and his student Walter Freeman, giants
of neuroscience, argued cogently that the current American and Asian
brain science mega-projects will shortly follow their European
counterpart into collapse. Their long and full lives included over a
century of experimentation in a neurodynamics paradigm, in which
individual neurons’ firing emerged from holistic brain processes. In
short, the current extravagantly funded mega-projects are several orders
of magnitude too simple in their assumptions.
While
Pribram and Freeman were at the height of their careers in the 1970’s, a
group of underemployed physicists centered in the SF Bay area began
considering the implications of the trails blazed by David Bohm and John
Bell. The result is well documented in the curious masterpiece How the
Hippies Saved Physics. While few are still hippies, their views on
consciousness are refreshingly radical. Join us for a day of discussion
and controversy featuring many of the players from the original
revolutions.
Free for Full-time students. For others a suggested donation: $100. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.
Dr. O Nualláin is the author of the highly acclaimed book One Magisterium and many other works. He was also the last full-time researcher at the Freeman lab (2007-2008).
Past
FOM speakers have included Henry Stapp, Tony Bell, Jacob Needleman,
Stan Klein, Terence Deacon, Menas Kafatos, and members of the CIIS
community including as Glenn Hartelius, Shelli Joye, and Allan Combs.
Preliminary schedule:
10 am Neurodynamics; the Divergent Approaches of Walter Freeman, Karl Pribram and William Hoffman
Sean O Nualláin
In
a 2014 review of his friend and teacher Karl Pribram’s intellectual
autobiography, “The Form Within,” Walter Freeman argued that adherence
to the “neuron doctrine” will likely wreck the US and Asian Brain
projects as it did the Markram/EC one. For neuroscience to prosper, it
must instead embrace field effects. Yet the approaches by Pribram and
Freeman focus on different levels of brain process; Pribram’s holonomic
approach arises from consideration of the “microscopic” level, in
particular individual neurons, while Freeman was interested in mass
action at the “mesoscopic” level. The speaker was fortunate enough to
work with both and the first part of the talk will examine computer
simulations of each neurodynamics paradigm.
The
lesser-known William Hoffman, an American contemporary of these two
greats, had an occasionally intense rivalry with Pribram. Nor was he an
experimentalist of anything like their caliber; instead, he championed a
“geometry of systems” approach that could encompass Mathematical fiber
bundles and category theory. While his work is necessarily more
speculative, it will be argued that the three may have trail-blazed for
much of 21st century neuroscience.
11am Panel discussion: Dreeeman’; Neurodynamics, Dreams and Psi
Allan Combs
Simply
put, while physics claims the most veridical description of reality,
psychology claims to explain physics. Neurology claims a reduction of
psychology to its terms.
12-1pm Break
1pm Panel Discussion: The Quantum Freeman: Physics, Psychology & Neuroscience
Henry Stapp
In
the final decade of a full and distinguished life and career, Walter
Freeman undertook a dialogue with those approaching mind from the
quantum science perspective. At the outset, this dialogue seemed
quixotic; it was received wisdom that quantum effects could not persist
at physiological temperatures. Perhaps as a result, his early forays in
this area focused on phenomena—like anomalous dispersion—that are
shared with classical physics. His subsequent development was shaped by
two forces. The first was his work with Giuseppe Vitiello, with whom he
developed a quantum field theory approach to certain issues of cortical
representation and processing. Secondly, under the aegis of the
foundations of mind group, in 2014 he re-kindled an old dialogue with
his contemporary, the great Henry Stapp, still with us. At this point,
through the work of Engel and others, it was clear that quantum effects
could persist at physiological temperatures. If it can be established
that these are relevant to issues of mind–particularly of voluntary
action–the consequences are enormous. We may, as John Searle has argued,
have found the only real proof of free will; we may also, a la Penrose,
intriguing evidence that the human mind can engage in actions beyond
the scope of Church-Turing computability.
2pm How Hippies Can Save the Second Quantum Revolution
Cynthia Sue Larson
It
is widely acknowledged that we are now in the midst of the second
quantum revolution, which depends upon our ability to more fully
understand and harness a conceptual awareness of quantum mechanics. The
arrival of such new programs as Europe's "Quantum Manifesto" launching
new initiatives in quantum technology indicates there has never been a
time of greater need for fully understanding the quantum paradigm. A
fresh look at the ideas of those who first led this charge in 1975 with
the Fundamental Fysiks Group promises to ensure this second quantum
revolution can steer the world in a more utopian than dystopian
direction.
Confirmed speakers include: Ruth Kastner, George Weissmann, Liz Rauscher, Henry Stapp, Russell Targ, Cynthia Sue Larson
Toast to Walter Britt Marie’s Jan 30 8pm1369 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706,
