NEURONAL INTEGRATION, PART FIVE

Both, emergence and confinement, are one nature in each mental process, although they can be categorized separately (the same thing happens with morphology and function, and that is why these are referred to as morphofunction).

The subjective consciousness is an integral object (integral object: an object constituted by it´s parts, that persists as a whole in the absence of some parts). In the course of time the shape of the information of the subjectivity changes, in correlation with the increase of entropy in the system, but the subjective character of the subjectivity and it´s confined macroscopic character don’t change in the course of the mental process while the subjectivity is effective. This integrity of the whole and it´s emergent properties (the subjective character and the macroscopic confinement character) rely on the subjective observation process´ lack of scaling ability.

How does the property of the subjectivity emerge? To answer this question it is necessary to ask it again in a different way: ¿Which difference can be uncovered between a non-subjective conscious (or infra-subjective) state of neuronal activity, and a subjective conscious state? The scale or measurement is what changes in the system. Therefore, the subjectivity emerges by a change of scale in the system (the brain cortex) during it´s morphofunctional process.

The subjectivity emerges by a change of scale when the emergence threshold is crossed (the emergence or properties in a system, when the emergence threshold is crossed, relies on the complexity of the system [9], and the complexity is related with the number of elements and interactions, and with the types of elements and types of interactions of a system).

A change of scale does not mean a change of the object´s size (the object is the abstract object whose effectiveness identifies with the process of subjective perception, like the object SUN). A change of scale means a change of the measurement unit. For example: while perceiving SUN subjectively, SUN is not being enlarged from it´s original neuronal shape at a microscopic scale, in order to be perceptible by a utopic concrete macroscopic subjective observer (in other words: ten tens of a second will measure the same, in the scale of tens of a second, as one thousand milliseconds in the scale of milliseconds: one second both). What occurs is that the subjective perception of the emerging SUN object (S, U and N getting entangled) constitutes a new scale, but, as an object, it is abstract.

The subjective perception of SUN identifies with the subjective observer, because the subjective observer is not a concrete entity gifted with subjectivity. The subjective observer is an abstract object, because SUN is an abstract object too.How does the scale change? Like this: the change of scale is the reciprocal of the recreation of an entanglement, a recreation because it does not take place concretely, but abstractly, it´s the abstract representation of an entanglement among abstract objects (for instance: among S, U and N while perceiving SUN). SUN will be perceived, while effective, as being the same object from any point of view (it cannot be perceived as MOON, or NUS), as if SUN was an entangled state of S, U and N.

The process of recreation of an entanglement of abstract objects in the brain cortex is probably the mechanism of emergence of the subjectivity.

How do S, U and N entangle? Notice that their correlate, the neurons, although morphofunctionally correlated among them, strictly do not establish a “non-local correlation” (“non-local correlation” is the way the entanglement is defined in quantum physical systems [7]). The neurons correlate by a distant interaction, and that is a correlation, and, more precisely, a local correlation, but not a non-local correlation. There´s distant action among neurons through dendrites, axons, inter-neurons, synapse, and through the generation, conduction and transmission of bioelectrical potentials. That´s how this local correlation among neurons takes place; the non-local correlation among neurons is impossible. But the recreation of a non-local correlation among neurons is possible, and that is how the recreation of an entanglement takes place.

The entanglement, the non-local correlation, explains the presence of the entangled states which can be observed when some particles of certain quantum systems, like photons, get linked in some peculiar ways. According to Aczel [10], the entangled quantic particles do not possess individual properties, they behave as an object with unique entity, as a whole, and that is precisely the case of the subjectivity: to some effect it behaves as a thing with unique entity. But the subjectivity is an abstract object (it´s a "how", not a "what"), it is not concrete, like a photon, and that is why it is defined here as a recreation of an entangled state, not as a true entanglement. An entangled state in the mind, in the grounds of abstraction, is the abstract representation of an entangled state in a quantum system, it is a recreated entangled state.

The recreation of an entanglement is possible, because in the ground of abstraction it is feasible to compute some phenomena that are impossible in the ground of concretion. For instance, it is possible to abstractly compute an entanglement, a non-local correlation, among letters, with a negligible error (due to the effective emergence and confinement of the words), and, therefore, words can be perceived as objects with unique entity with a negligible error, as if letters, to which words are reducible, were entangled at sight in fact (the error is negligible in this case, among other reasons, because the whole, like the word SUN, depends on a complex neuronal correlate, and the whole, as an integral object, can endure to some effect as a whole, as the 100% of a reducible but unique entity, even in the absence of some parts, of some neurons, in the network SUN, while effective as a distinct network).

In the physical phenomenon of wave interference, the superposition principle establishes that the value of the perturbation on one point is the result of the addition of the perturbation caused by each wave. To have an interference, the waves must be coherent (two wave sources are coherent when the emissions take place with a constant phase difference, and it does not matter if they are in phase, synchronized, or not, to be coherent; it is important not to get the difference between coherence and synchronization wrong).

According to Aczel [10], the superposition consists in the interference of a particle with itself, and the entanglement in the interference of a system with itself. According to Ferrero [7], an entangled state is a coherent quantum state. Doing an extrapolation of these ideas to the abstract ground, and according to Hofstadter [11], one neuron can be a part of more than one symbol by means of superposition and entanglement of the symbols (in other words: one given neuron of a given network hypothetically would be able to be a part of more than one network, and this helps to explain how the subjectivity would emerge as an object with unique entity with a negligible error).

According to Aczel [12], to have an entanglement among the particles of a quantum system, there must be, in the system, a superposition of the states in which the particles of the system can be observed. According to Aczel [12], given one particle that can be in an A state or in a B state incompatible with A (incompatible, because if the particle is in A, the probability of being in B will be zero), if a superposition between A and B occurs, namely a product state A+B, the observation of the particle will derive now in the detection of the particle not in A or B, but in A and B with a probability unequal to zero (even though A and B were incompatible while they were not superimposed); if successive measurements of the particle were done in this superimposed condition, the particle would be observed in A and B, according to that distribution of probabilities. On the other hand, after the superposition of A and B, the probability of observing the particle, that is in A and B, in a different state other than A+B will be zero. These phenomena, although counter-intuitive, are really observed in the case of quantum particles [13].

According to Aczel [12], given a complex quantum system (that is, 2 or more particles), if a superposition of product states takes place, like (A+B)+(C+D), such state may be called an “entangled state” (and both particles will be entangled in such state, and counter-intuitively correlated by a non-local correlation). According to Aczel, this implies that, for instance, in this entangled state, (A+B)+(C+D), if particle 1 is observed in state A, then particle 2 can only be observed in state B, and if particle 1 is in state C, then particle 2 can only be observed in state D. Particles 1 and 2 entangle by a superposition of product states of the system, and it means that a counter-intuitive non-local correlation is established between particles 1 and 2.

In the case of the brain, a representation of the states in which the observation of “particles” takes place is possible (for instance, state S, state U, state N, etc.). This systematic representation is shaped in the abstract ground, has an abstract character (the system is the brain; in the mind, that is, the brain functioning, the information is conscious and has a meaning, and therefore, the “particles” are perceptible and identifiable abstract objects, like S, U and N; the mind is not exactly the brain functioning, but more precisely, the abstract -and conscious- information that the brain is processing, and the abstract information is that codified in the synapse by the discharge of spikes).

A systematic abstract representation of states superposition is possible too. For example: given the product state S+U+N, if particle 1 is in S, 2 will be in U and 3 in N, and the probability of finding each particle in any other state will be zero while S+U+N or SUN is effective; in practice, the probability of perceiving any thing apart from SUN in correlation with the effective activation of the network SUN will be zero. This is possible due to a representation of states superposition in the abstract ground, a recreation of a superposition, possible due to the abstract character of the information in the brain, and possible due to the systematic and complex neuronal morphofunctional processes, and, in particular, due to the diaschisis, and due to the peculiar correlative neuronal retroactivity inside the brain´s morphofunctional neuronal networks.

According to Márquez [14], the diaschisis consists in this: when a mental task, corresponding to a locally determined brain zone, is executed, that zone is not the only one to be activated (activation means a change in the rate of discharge in each synapse involved).

Diaschisis means a rupture of the separation between distinct anatomic (or morphological) zones, with a distinct spatial localization, and with a potential morphofunctional meaning as a whole when the morphological zones become functional correlates (possibly by reciprocal neuronal retroactivity of some kind); diaschisis supposes the establishment of locality relations among different brain zones previously non-related, zones that can now relate as if their relation was non-local, whenever an undetermined (or “non-local”) brain zone activates, due to the diaschisis, when a determined, or “local”, correlative brain zone activates. Diaschisis is feasible thanks to the existence of morphological (potentially morphofunctional) synaptic connections on one (or more than one) step, among neurons of a potential morphofunctional network, as much as among neurons of diverse networks.

Diaschisis makes synchronization (and other types of retroactivity, namely coherence) among networks possible, and perhaps precisely by re-entry [1][2]. For example: in the case of subjective perception of the word SUN, S, U and N should be codified each in a different corresponding neuronal morphofunctional network (this is possible due to the spatial and temporal specificity of the networks, that implies the specificity of the meaning of the information transmitted by each network); also, S, U and N networks should integrate preferently to some effect (like the shaping of SUN), and, therefore, the preferent (in Physiology: facilitated) synaptic morphofunctional connections among the S, U and N networks should be feasible (due to some circumstances, like the genetic predisposition on that direction, and like the influence of afterbirth learning on that direction too, the latter also related to other properties, like memory and plasticity). The S, U and N networks should be able to connect among them reciprocally, maybe by re-entry, and that is how they would be able to establish a peculiar morphofunctional correlation among them, perhaps synchronizing together in peculiar manners in some cases (for instance, when sending the order to move all the fibers of a given muscle at a time), or getting transiently coherent in others (namely, during subjective perception), and getting compatible too (becoming coherent among them), and thus eventually integrating to some effect in a unique morphofunctional network: SUN.

Each network S, U and N would have constituted an incompatible state with the rest if a superposition would not have been established among them; the absence of compatibility would have avoided the integration, and they integrated into SUN, so superposition (more precisely, a recreation of it) must have been taking place.Networks would not superimpose if they were incompatible, so they must be compatible, because the word SUN, despite being reducible (to letters, neurons, molecules, etc.), is perceptible to some effect as a unique word with a negligible error in practice.

Given an entangled state in the brain (at least a convincing recreation), in which networks that constitute product states superimpose, constituting super-systems of increasing complexity, and given the subjective perception of SUN, then the product state S+U+N will be composed by the integration of the networks S, U and N.It is important to notice that the entangled state that is effective as the subjectivity, when SUN is effective, will be composed by the integration of SUN with the rest of the product states superimposed at that instant that constitute the several parts of the subjectivity (in practice, the subjectivity is a complex mental object, as the brain itself is; this means that the subjectivity will not be constituted only by the word SUN in a given instant, not even if one tries to think of the word SUN only; SUN is being used only as a simple object to explain the mechanism of the brain function, but it must be understood that it is a simplification; on the other hand, the complexity of the subjectivity seems interesting, because that brings on the possibility of crossing the threshold of the subjectivity emergence; thus, if SUN superimposes with the whole, the subjective perception of even the less complex, like SUN, can take place).

When the retroactivity among the networks S, U and N (maybe by re-entry in a coherent transient state) becomes activated, and among the rest of the networks correlated with the subjectivity too, and all of them integrate in the current recreated (to some effect) entangled state, the entanglement among the abstract objects shaped by the networks will be established, and SUN will be perceptible as a whole then. In SUN, S, U and N are falsely entangled, and, nevertheless, the subjective perception of SUN will take place in practice as if it was the experience of a unique subject, complex and reducible, but a unique object in mind, as if SUN was truly an entangled state, and not a recreation at large scale. The subjective conscious perception will be effective with a negligible error in practice.

In practice, the effectiveness of the subjectivity means that reality can be perceived at first sight (and with a negligible error) as if it was done through the eyes of a (unique) subject.

The property of the subjectivity emerges by a change of scale, the reciprocal of a systematic entanglement of abstract parts. But it depends on the confinement to be effective as an entangled state (as a unique entity, and as a sole and distinct subject) with a negligible error. Therefore, there is a final question to be answered yet: how does the emerging subjectivity confine?

Due to the brain´s complex and peculiar morphofunctional structure, the (abstract) representation of product states superposition can be shaped in the brain. Product states can be shaped; for example: the product state S+U+N.

The product state S+U+N defines a new unit of measurement, SUN, and therefore a new scale, which is potentially correlative with a possible effectiveness of SUN as part of the subjective perception if the emergence threshold is crossed during the activation and integration of the also newly integrated network SUN (in the brain, a network, like SUN, can be effective as a whole to some effect [15]) into the whole, in other words, if SUN becomes a part of the entangled state correlative with the current effective subjectivity, if SUN is a part of the subjective conscious perception process.

Thus, if SUN becomes the subjective perception, and given that S+U+N is a product state (and given that a network, like SUN, can be effective as a whole), the probability of observing the “SUN-particle” in a state (scale) other than SUN will be zero (as stated previously). In other words: if SUN is effective as subjective perception, the probability of the “SUN-particle” (the object with unique entity effective during the entanglement of S, U and N) to be in other state than the “network-state-product-SUN” will be zero while the subjective perception of SUN remains effective; it will be zero due to the specificity of the network (it´s spatial and temporal specificity implies that if an integral network codifies SUN, it only codifies SUN, not MOON, or NUS). And, finally, the probability for the word SUN to be in other state than S+U+N will be zero, because this state is a superposition of S, U and N that is effective as a superposition with a negligible error in practice at certain scale. And this “zero probability” means that when the subjectivity emerges, by a change of scale, it will be confined, for instance, SUN will be confined (in other words: S, U and N will not be perceived individually at first sight while SUN is effective), and the subjective conscious experience, the perception of SUN, will be really effective.

8. Formal enunciation of the hypothesis.

Can all this explanation be enunciated in shorter terms, in one final phrase that contains it all? Yes, it can, like this:

The (mental) property of the subjectivity (effective as the mental experience of the subjective, or individual, conscious perception of reality) probably emerges (and confines) by the recreation, at large scale (a macroscopic and confined scale), of a superposition of product-states (the recreation of a coherent quantum state, or an entanglement) in the brain cortex.

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