An integration of integrated information theory with fundamental physics.

Author: Barrett AB.
Affiliation: Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, Department of Informatics, University of Sussex Brighton, UK.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychol.
Date published: 2014 Feb 4
Other: Volume ID: 5 , Pages: 63 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00063 , Word Count: 117



To truly eliminate Cartesian ghosts from the science of consciousness, we must describe consciousness as an aspect of the physical. Integrated Information Theory states that consciousness arises from intrinsic information generated by dynamical systems; however existing formulations of this theory are not applicable to standard models of fundamental physical entities. Modern physics has shown that fields are fundamental entities, and in particular that the electromagnetic field is fundamental. Here I hypothesize that consciousness arises from information intrinsic to fundamental fields. This hypothesis unites fundamental physics with what we know empirically about the neuroscience underlying consciousness, and it bypasses the need to consider quantum effects.
KEYWORDS:
complexity, electromagnetic field theory, entropy, fields, integrated information theory, particle physics

PMID: 24550877