Does Adaptive Resonance solve the Hard Problem of conscious qualia? Yes

 I had emailed Peter Fenwick about the qigong master I studied with - and now Fenwick has tested a person who has their students/clients experience light! hmmmm. Very cool!

A Meditation Teacher Who Can 'Transmit' Subjective Light/Energy  Peter Fenwick (Institute of Psychiatry; Kings College, London, United Kingdom)   PL8

We studied an expert meditation teacher (male, 60 yrs) who it is claimed can induce strong subjective feelings of light in his pupils during a brief joint meditation session. We examined the neural sources in the teacher and pupil during the transmission/reception of light. Sixty four channels EEG signals were obtained from the teacher-pupil dyad during various conditions: Teacher instructed to transmit or not to transmit, and the pupil instructed to receive and not to receive. We used electric field tomography (EFT) from scalp EEGs to localize statistically significant neuronal sources in the brain. We used over 30 2-second epochs to obtain the time domain solutions so as to calculate the regional spectral power in the teacher's brain. We calculated the analysis for each transmission/receiving condition and compared the resulting spectral densities across conditions. In the teacher's brain, higher activity during transmission than during non-transmission was observed in multiple regions and at specific frequency ranges. The increases during transmission epochs were more prominent in the right temporal cortex in the theta range, becoming bilateral in the alpha range. Increases in the brain stem were relatively small at low frequencies, but became prominent in the beta and especially in the low and high gamma bands. At these higher frequencies the gamma activity spread to wider cortical areas. The only reductions in spectral power were identified in dorsal frontal cortical areas, mainly at low frequencies. These observed patterns in the teacher's brain during transmission was found to be consistent across different transmission trials, and with different pupils. Pupils receiving or not receiving made no difference. These results reveal the specific neural correlates in the brain of the teacher whenever he was making an effort to transmit light which could be seen by his students. Fenwick P1, Luft C2, Liu L3, Ioannides A3, Bhattacharya J2 1Kings college IOP, 2Golsmiths College London. 3 AAI Scientific Cultural Services Ltd, Cyprus

 And so what is adaptive resonance?

Such a dynamical state is called an adaptive resonance. As explained in greater detail in subsequent sections, a resonance is a dynamical state during which neuronal firings across a brain network are amplified and synchronized when they interact via reciprocal excitatory feedback signals during a matching process that occurs between bottom-up and top-down pathways. Often the activities of these synchronized cells oscillate in phase with one another. Resonating cell activities also focus attention upon a subset of cells, thereby clarifying how the brain can become conscious of attended events. It is called an adaptive resonance because the resonant state can trigger learning within the adaptive weights, or long-term memory (LTM) traces, that exist at the synapses of these pathways.

According to Grossberg

Stephen Grossberg

  a synchronous resonant state emerges that embodies an attentional focus. Such a resonance is capable of driving fast learning that incorporates the attended critical feature pattern into both the bottom-up adaptive filters that activate recognition categories, and the top-down expectations that are read-out by them–hence the name adaptive resonance–while suppressing unattended outliers that could have caused catastrophic forgetting.

 And better to consider Adaptive Resonance in terms of noncommutative quantum proto-consciousness as the music of the universe:

The Science of Consciousness

June 5-10, 2017

La Jolla, California 

"To have a glimpse of what consciousness is would be the scientific achievement before which all others would pale."

William James  

'The Science of Consciousness' ('TSC') is an interdisciplinary conference on all aspects of the nature of conscious experience, awareness, feelings and existence. How does the brain produce consciousness? Is consciousness intrinsic to the universe, or an epiphenomenal illusion? How can consciousness causally affect brain processes? What are the best empirical theories? Do we have free will? How did life and consciousness originate and evolve? What are the origins of moral and aesthetic values? How can we improve mental, physical and cognitive function? Can consciousness persist after bodily death, e.g. through 'uploading' to machines, or via mental processes tied to the natural world?  

Informal, intensive and interdisciplinary in a fun environment, the 24th annual TSC conference will consist of Plenary Sessions, Pre-Plenary Workshops, Evening Concurrent Talk and Poster sessions, Technology and Art Exhibits, Social Events and Entertainment.  

For registration, hotel and other information see:

http://www.consciousness.arizona.edu

Plenary Program 

Tuesday June 6, 2017 

PL1 2:00 to 4:10 pm 

Can Machines Be Conscious?

Sir Roger Penrose, Oxford, 'How can Consciousness Arise within the Laws of Physics?'

Joscha Bach, Harvard, 'Consciousness as a Memory of Coordinating Attention: The Conductor Model of Consciousness'

Hartmut Neven, Google , Quantum AI, 'Possible Roles of Quantum Effects and Subjective Experience in Artificial Intelligence' 

Wednesday June 7, 2017  

PL2  8:30 to 10:40am

Language and Consciousness

Noam Chomsky, MIT, 'Language and Unconscious Mental Acts'

Thomas Bever, U Arizona, 'Three Aspects of (Un)conscious Processing in Language and its Normal Use'

Michael J Spivey, UC Merced, 'Language, Consciousness and Embodied Cognition' 

PL3 11:10 am to 12:30 pm​ 

Biophysics 1 - Memory, Spin and Anesthesia

Matthew Fisher, UC Santa Barbara, 'Are We Quantum Computers, or Merely Clever Robots?'

Travis Craddock, Nova Southeastern U, 'A Unitary Mechanism of Anesthesia?: Altering Collective Oscillations in Microtubules' 

PL4 2:00 to 4:10 pm

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation 

Marom Bikson, CCNY/CUNY, 'Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Devices to Change Thought and Behavior'

John Allen, Arizona, 'Transcranial Ultrasound, Mood, and Resting State Network Connectivity'

Marvin Berman, VieLight, 'Integrating Noninvasive Photobiomodulation and Neuromodulation'

Michael Rohan, Harvard, 'The Effects of Low Field Magnetic Stimulation on Mood and Brain Function' 

Thursday June 8, 2017

PL5 8:30 to 10:40am 

Physics, Cosmology and Consciousness

Ivette Fuentes, U Nottingham, 'Gravity in the Quantum Lab'

Brian Keating, UCSD, 'Conscious Cosmos'

​James Tagg, Cengine, Penrose Institute, 'Are Human Beings Computers?' 

PL6 11:10 am to 12:30 pm​ 

Music and the Brain

Elaine Chew, Queen Mary University London, 'Mind over Music Perception'

Scott Makeig, UCSD, 'Mind Over Consciousness?' 

PL7 2:00 to 3:30 pm 

Neuroscience and Consciousness 1

Stephen Grossberg, Boston U, 'The Varieties of Brain Resonances and the Conscious Experiences They Support'

Georg Northoff, U Ottawa, 'Temporo-Spatial Theory of Consciousness' 

Friday, June 9, 2017

PL8 8:30 to 10:40am

Neuroscience and Consciousness 2 - Anomalies

Daniel P. Sheehan, U San Diego, 'It's About Time: Experiments in Consciousness and Retrocausation'

Peter Fenwick, UC London, 'A Meditation Teacher Who Can 'Transmit' Subjective Light/Energy'​

Lakhmir S. Chawla, George Washington U, 'End-of-Life Brain Activity' 

PL9 11:10 am to 12:30 pm​

Biophysics 2 - Memristors in the Brain?

Leon Chua, UCSF, 'Brains are Made of Memristors'

Jack A. Tuszynski, U Alberta, 'Microtubules as Subcellular Memristors' 

PL10 2:00 to 4:10 pm  

Neuroscience and Consciousness 3

Gentry Patrick, UCSD, 'Destruction as a Means of Remodeling: The Many Roles of Ubiquitin at the Synapse'

VS Ramachandran, UCSD, 'Embodied Brains and Disembodied Minds'

Charles F. Stevens, Salk Institute, UCSD, 'The Evolutionary Brain Mechanisms That Underlie Consciousness' 

Saturday, June 10, 2017

PL11 9:00 to 11:10 am

Vibrations, Resonance and Consciousness

Anirban Bandyopadhyay, NIMS, Tsukuba, 'Vibrational Frequencies of Biomaterials are the Key to Integration of Information'

Jiapei Dai, South Central University, China, 'Biophotonic Activities and Transmission in Relation to Consciousness' 

Erik Viirre, UCSD, 'Auditory Vibrations and Frequencies: Sounds in Your Head'  

PL12 11:40 am to 1:00 pm 

Eastern Philosophy

Xu Yingjin, Fudan University, China, 'Contemporary Theories of Consciousness and Nishida's notion of 'Basho'' 

Deepak Chopra, Chopra Foundation, 'Mind, Body, and Universe as Human Constructs'  

PL13 2:30 to 4:40 pm

Origin and Evolution of Life and Consciousness

Bruce Damer, UC Santa Cruz, 'The Origin of Life and Consciousness' 

Alysson R. Muotri, UCSD, 'Cerebral Organoids for Neurodevelopmental and Evolutionary Studie's 

Stuart Hameroff, U Arizona, 'The 'Quantum Pleasure Principle' - Did Life Evolve to Feel Good?'  

PRE-PLENARY WORKSHOPS  

(Included in the conference registration)  

MONDAY MORNING WORKSHOPS

June 5, 2017 - 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

1. DEI East-West Forum 1                                        

(Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra, India)

2. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Consciousness  

(Tagg, Bach, Neven, Penrose, Remmel, Verschure)

3. Tenniscentric  (Valladares)

4. Yoga and Meditation (Birch) 

MONDAY AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS                           

June 5, 2017 - 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm

1. DEI East-West Forum  part 2                                       

2. Brain Stimulation/Consciousness Technology        

(Bikson, Sanguinetti, Berman, Rohan, Martin)

3. Resonance, Life and Consciousness                      

(Schooler, Hunt, Bandyopadhyay, Craddock, Grossberg, Chew)

4.  Consciousness and the Arts                                 

(Day, Seifert, Kostiner, Electra)

5. Consciousness Healing Initiative                          

(Jain, Guarneri, King, Muehsam, Vieten) 

MONDAY EVENING PUBLIC LECTURE

6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Sir Roger Penrose                                

Fashion, Faith and Fantasy and the Big Questions in Modern Physics

INSTITUTE OF THE AMERICAS

10111 N. Torrey Pines Rd. La Jolla, CA 92037 USA

https://www.iamericas.org/en

30 minute walk, 8 minute ride, simulcast to Hyatt Regency La Jolla​​ 

TUESDAY MORNING WORKSHOPS     

June 6, 2017 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

1. Language and Consciousness                         

(T. Bever, Chomsky, Spivey, O.Bever)

2. Deepak Chopra - 'The enlightened brain'       

3. David Bohm Centennial                                 

(Pylkkanen, Musser, Walleczek)

4.  Quantum Brain Biology                                

(Craddock, Tuszynski, Hameroff, Bandyopadhyay)  

CONCURRENT TALK PROGRAM 

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

5:00 to 7:55 pm 

C1: Dualism and Panpsychism

Schriner, Gradowski, Liamas, Gaertner, Remler, Kuznetsov, Kent, Kernion, Pylkkanen

C2: Memory and Consciousness

Nakano, Hsin-ping Wu, Gottlieb, Heile, Anokhin, Fazekas, Loisi, Xiao-Lan Song

C3: Artificial Intelligence/Virtual Reality 1

Verschere, Lin, Bezzubova, Gackenbach, Leping Zha, Duan, Yang Liu, Elamrani

C4: Consciousness and Molecular Biology

Woolf, Saluja, Sahni, Schiffer, Baker, Poola, Jiang

C5: Consciousness and Models of Reality 1

Markan, Yan He, Keppler, Bolaros, Gruber, Beichler, Andrews 

C6: Altered States of Consciousness

Lopez-Silva, Dolcini, Villanueva, Gerken, Polito, JK Arora, Tirumalai 

C7: Quantum Ontologies 1

Globus, Rosseinsky, Rangarajan, Gaertner, AK Satsangi, Thomas, Prakash

C8: Consciousness and Social Interactions

Olson, Mayhofer, Carrassi, Di Pizzo, Gautam, Harrison, Lloyd 

Wednesday, June 7, 2017  5:00 to 7:55 pm 

C9: Free Will and Intentionality

Besedin,  Munoz-Jimenez, Guery, Westcombe, MacNeill, Cea, Elliott
C10: Complexity and Brain Organization

Miyahara, Isler, Tetsuo, Bar Lev, Lahav, Maninder, Virmani

C11: Language and Autism

Mizumoto, O Bever , Pensotti, Mertsalov, Bhatnagar, Rai, Powell

C12: Consciousness and Evolution

Fredriksson, Whiteley, Morrison, Bakker, Beran, Hamilton, Tirumalai  

C13: Meditation and Consciousness
Ahuja, Katyal, Saran, Goldstein, Birch, Mishra, Willman

C14: Consciousness and Quantum Measurement

McQueen, Kathpalia, Bhaumik, Roy, Camargo-Perez, Gunji, Brophy, Gunji 

C15: Consciousness and Models of Reality 2

Korotkov, Haoying Liu, Awret, Alessandrini, Goradia, Agarwal, Willman, Allsop  

C16: Vibrations, Resonance and Consciousness

Roberts, Burgarella, Schooler, Hunt, Kent, Katkova, Safin, Pyari, Krishnananda

Friday, June 9, 2017

5:00 to 7:55 pm 

C17: Explanatory Gap and Intentionality

Ebbers, Jansen, Choate, Black, Ruggeri, Allsop, Jianfeng Li, Xinyu Wei, Ruggeri, Ting-An Lin

C18: Neuroscience Topics

Dinis-Pereira, Yu Feng, Clark, Persuh, Sanguinetti, Lei Zhang, Toropova, Bettinger

C19: Consciousness and Unconscious Processes

Deschepper, Ginzburg, Six, Stevenson, Gutman, Norman, Hedne

C20: Mind Body

McKusick, Jain, Mruthinti, Muehsam, Vieten, Yijun Liu,Ying-Tung Lin

C21: Artificial Intelligence and Models of Reality

Panov, Beck, Shirtz, Charan, Singh, Ju Lee, Kanta Arora

C22: Consciousness and Models of Reality 3

Khabeev, Narayanan, Pyari, Jain, Cortel, Kim, Vallederes

C23: Consciousness and the Arts

Day, Menshikova, Colbert, Oberst, Kostiner, Malhotra, Idnani

C24: Quantum Ontologies 2

Hankey, Narayan, Rulin Xiu, Knox, Kohl, Blum, Green

POSTER SESSION 1

Wednesday, June 7, 7:00 to 10:00 pm

Agarwal, Agarwal, Agarwal, Alakh, Azevedo, Bhasin, Bhasin, Bhat, Bhatnagar, 

Bommireddipalli, Buglo, Chellapilla, Datta, Gorjup, Gupta, Gupta, Gupta, Jois, Kapoor, Kent, Khan, Khatkale, Khurana, Kumar, 

Markan, Mathur,Mathur, Misra, Mittal, Pahl, Parmar, Paul, Poudel,  Prokash, 

Pyari, Ramchandran, Rana, D. Saini, A. Saini, Sandhu , Saravana, Satsangee, Satsangi,  Satsangi, Satsangi, Saxena, Sharma, Mathur, Shivhare,

Singh, Sinha, Srivastava, Srivastava, Srivastava, Sundaram, Swami, Swaroop, ​Tiwari, Trivedi, Zadey

POSTER SESSION 2

Friday, June 9, 7:00 to 10:00 pm

Aviv, Barbosa, Barsotti, Bozorgi, Brito, Chen, Chiarella, Coelho, Cohly, Costa, Costa, Daneshfard, Davis, Dzhaber, Galikova, Graca, Guta, Hong, Kashyap,

Kozyreva, Lee, Mathur,Melkikh, Pankovski, Patil, Peerally, Plotke, Safina, 

Sarfarazi, Six, Sood, Swami, Usvapelto, Ventureyra, Vucolova, Wang, Williams, 

Wong, Zegarac, Zhang, Zhu 

Art-Tech-Health Exhibits

Wednesday and Friday 7:00-10:00 pm

Paul Thomas, New Visual Languages and the Speculative Nature of the Quantum Universe

Margaret Dolinsky, Creativity and its Mediation for Navigating between Reality and Virtual Reality

Jiyun Park, W[hole]ness - Scaling Consciousness/Cosmologies Through Geometry


Pam Payne, The Telenoetic Medium - Presentation of The Author's Video Artwork, A Mnemonic Device to Facilitate Meditative, Noetic States of Consciousness

Jens Pilegaard, Musings on Captured Moments

Naama Kostiner, Create Your Own Flow

Jeanne Marie Sanguinetti - Pac Man Line, Academy of Art, San Francisco, CA

Mimi Loup Brown, Artist, Pasadena, CA

Cyndi Sanguinetti, Artist, Pasadena, CA

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITS 

Wednesday and Friday 7:00-10:00 pm

Vielight Inc.

Infrared Photomodulation and Neurofeedback for Alzheimer's disease

Marvin Berman

Soterix Medical

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation

Abhishek Datta

Roger Penrose Institute

Creativity Inspiration/Creativity Competition

James Tagg, Erik Viirre

Mclean Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Low Field Magnetic Stimulation

Michael Rohan

Arthur C. Clarke Center at UCSD

Assembly 

Sheldon Brown

University of Arizona Center for Consciousness Studies

Transcranial ultrasound ('TUS') program

Chris Chan, Betsy Bigbee, Stuart Hameroff, Jay Sanguinetti

National Institute of Material Science, Tsukuba, japan

Visualizing microtubule information processing

Anirban Bandyopadhyay

University of Alberta

Unfolding misfolded proteins to treat neurodegenerative disease

Jack Tuszynski

Wellness - Health

Daily 7:00 - 8:00 am                           

Mark Valladares, TennisCentric  

Daily 6:30-7:30 am and 4-5 pm         

Beryl Bender Birch, Yoga and Meditation 

Chopra Center

You Are The Universe Wellness Space