Abstract
Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible “neural correlates of consciousness” in mammalian brains is a specific combination of gamma, beta and theta electrical synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and offers a possible solution to what we see as the “easy part” of the “Hard Problem” of consciousness, which is generally known as the “combination problem.” The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach, a meta-synthesis, as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness. We offer some suggestions for testing the theory.
Highlights
Distinguishing the “Easy Part” and the “Hard Part” of the Hard Problem of ConsciousnessThe Hard Problem of consciousness refers to the vexing challenge of understanding how matter is capable of having subjective experience (Chalmers, 1996; Goff, 2017) – what has historically been known as the mind/body problem
Our argument in this paper, in quick summary, is as follows: (1) All things resonate in some manner; (2) in many circumstances, things resonating in proximity will start resonating together at the same frequency, achieving a shared resonance; (3) we take panpsychism, the notion that all matter is associated with at least some degree of mind/subjectivity/consciousness, as our metaphysical starting point and don’t dwell long on why we have arrived at this position since that debate is addressed elsewhere; (4) achieving a shared resonance is what leads micro-conscious entities to combine into macro-conscious entities, often with a phase transition in the speed of information sharing resulting from that shared resonance
There are a number of other key differences between general resonance theory” (GRT) and GWT, including: (1) GRT is a general theory that is meant to apply to all potential types of consciousness in all physical structures, not just neuronal-based consciousness or mammalian or even vertebrate consciousness; (2) GRT is panpsychist, GWT is materialist because it suggests that consciousness emerges at some point of biological complexity and is not otherwise present; (3) GRT has a quantification framework that allows the calculation of spatial and temporal boundaries and the capacity for phenomenal content in specific entities (Hunt, 2011, 2019; GWT has neither); (4) GRT is a solution to the combination problem of consciousness and the Hard Problem more generally; GWT doesn’t address these problems explicitly
Summary
The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. We offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach, a meta-synthesis, as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness.
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