Chasing Consciousness

Where is nature’s memory of its evolution encoded? Is there evidence for extended mind occurring beyond individual brains? How possible is it that the sun is conscious?

In this episode we’re going to get up to date on Rupert Sheldrake’s extraordinary theory of Morphic resonance: so Morphic fields, the unfolding of nature’s ‘habits’ and the ‘memory of nature’. We’ll examine the possibility of levels of consciousness larger than our own brains - scaling up in a hierarchy from cellular consciousness right up to planetary and perhaps even stellar consciousness! We’re also going to get into examples of consciousness beyond the brain like ‘the sensation of being stared at’ (clearly a useful skill to evolve) and other phenomena Rupert has reported in his experiments. 

Rupert Sheldrake is a Cambridge PHD developmental Biologist whose published over

100 papers on topics as wide as Cellular Biology, telepathy, Pets who know when their owners are coming home, and after-death communications. He is also the author of many books like “A new science of life”, “Science set free”, and “Ways of going Beyond”, among many others.

What were discuss:

00:00 Intro.

06:10 Morphic resonance explained.

08:15 Polar Auxin - death in the midst of life.

09:15 Genes make proteins, morphogenetic fields determine form.

11:30 Nature’s “memory” spread across time.

13:25 Something that has happened before is more likely to happen again.

14:15 Collective memory, like Jung’s collective unconscious.

17:15 His scientific education engrained materialism and atheism in him..

18:15 Asian philosophy, psychedelics, Neo-platonism and Christianity.

20:30 Questioning of scientific dogma came before his faith.

22:00 Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm change, an analogy for him breaking with science.

23:50 Rupert’s work denounced as ‘Heresy’ by the editor of Nature in 1981. 

26:30 Measuring Morphic fields in experiments.

28:30 IQ tests have got easier for people over time, The Flynn Effect

30:00 Video games have to make new versions harder each time. 

32:10 Is subtle energy field research beyond science?

37:00 Bioelectric morphogenetic fields & Michael Levin. 

41:20 Bioelectric fields are the interface not the explanation.

42:30 Where are morphic fields recorded in nature?

44:50 Platonism doesn’t explain evolution and change over time.

47:00 Different levels of collective consciousness, up to planetary, stellar and even cosmic consciousness.

56:40 The feeling of being stared at: examples of extended mind.

01:02:55 Mystical experience - being part of a greater consciousness.

01:09:40 Are spiritual & scientific insight compatible?

References:

Rupert Sheldrake, “A New Science of life”.

Michael Levin - Bio-electric morphogenetic fields CC interview

The Sheldrake.org Staring App.

Polar Auxin 

QUOTE:

“Morphic resonance leaps across time and space,

It’s not stored anywhere it’s a direct connection with the past.”

Why is our subjective experiences and cultural context inseparable from our scientific theories and attempts to be objective? Why is it that the more we know, the more we know we don’t know? What does reductionist materialism miss out from the scientific picture and what does a post-reductionist science look like? How can understanding some of materialism’s incompleteness help us face humanity's greatest problems?

In this episode we have the blind spots of enlightenment science to assess; we’re going to be investigating the common belief that science can provide a universal, objective, God-like perspective of the truth of things, independent from our human experience. We’re also going to look at the implications of the consensus in science that all phenomena can be reduced to solely material causes, and what that may be missing out. To assess this we’re going to be looking at data from cosmology, biology, cognitive science and quantum physics and thinking about the assumptions that are so baked in to our western scientific approaches, that we may have forgotten they’re assumptions at all. 

In order to do this we’re going to be speaking to Brazilian professor of theoretical physics at Dartmouth College, Marcelo Gleiser. Marcelo works on a range of topics from Cosmology and information theory, to the history and philosophy of science, and how science and culture interact. He’s also the author of many popular science books including most recently, “the Dawn of Mindful Universe: A manifesto for humanities future” and his new 2024 book which we’ll be focusing on today, “The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience”, Co-authored with astronomer Adam Frank and philosopher Evan Thompson, who will be not he show in the next series.

Gleiser’s also the first South American recipient of the prestigious Templeton Science prize for his standpoint that science, philosophy and spirituality are complementary expressions of humanities deep need to explore the unknown.

I have wanted to speak to Marcelo about the limits of science and a post-reductionist approach to science since he was recommended by my previous guest psychiatrist and brain-hemisphere researcher Dr. Iain McGilchrist in the series one episode “Navigating beyond Materialism”, and I’m extremely glad I followed him up on it.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

06:14 Asymmetry is also beautiful. 

11:40 The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

18:00 ‘Interbeing’ - buddhism and the philosophy of science.

22:00 Bacteria are our ancestors.

23:00 Sacred ancestral knowledge - belonging & gratitude for nature.

30:00 Extremely unlikely chemical steps and extinction events required for life to develop.

35:00 The chances of intelligent technological life on other planets.

37:00 Fine-tuned for life VS the anthropic principle.

50:30 Post-enlightenment sacredness.

52:00 The rise of reductionism. 

01:03:30 Newton was troubled by his theory.

01:08:37 Strongly and weakly emergent phenomena.

01:12:00 Downward or upward causation? Dualism or monism?

01:17:50 Scientific concepts are stories, and stories are simplifications too.

01:21:20 “The Blind Spot: Why science cannot ignore human experience”.

01:26:31 “Sureptitious substitution” of concepts for experiences.

01:28:45 Is consciousness fundamental?

01:42:45 Blindspots in the hard sciences - jumps that are too big.

01:53:30 Marcelo’’s new “The Island of Knowledge’ centre in Tuscany.

Quote:

“Gravity must be caused by an agent, acting constantly according to certain laws; but whether this agent be material or immaterial, I have left to the consideration of my readers.” — Sir Isaac Newton (Third letter to Bentley, 25 Feb 1693)

References:

Marcelo Gleiser, “The Blind Spot: How science must take include human experience”.

Marcelo Glesier, “The Dawn of a Mindful Universe”

Aristarchus of Samos - The greek Copernicus

‘The Island of Knowledge’ Centre in Tuscany, Italy

Why are we seeing such a rise in youth mental health diagnosis? How do we relativise this against the rise in mental health awareness? What’s the best approach for parents seeking solutions? How can social-connection and loneliness completely change trauma integration? What role does the recent explosion of persuasive technologies in young peoples lives play in the changing situation?

Let Grow movement for childhood independence

How and why did human’s develop self-awareness of what we know and don’t know? How does it develop in relation to how we evaluate what other people know? What are the risks of cognitive bias tainting our ability to learn and self correct?

Is the brain structure found in many UFO experiencers and remote viewers related to intuition? Are anomalous isotope ratio alloys, allegedly fallen from UFO’s, evidence that can help important jumps in the research into energy and transportation technologies? How can this be both a physical and psychological phenomenon simultaneously? Is there a connection between the mind and this brain structure and the phenomena?

How can neuroscience help us personalise mental health diagnoses and treatments? How are mental heath stats changing and why? How effective are life style changes as a prevention? What other new treatments are proving promising and effective?

In this episode we’re going to get an update on all the recent research from neuroscience that’s studying mental health, and not just the issues and the treatments being used to deal with them, but also the importance of the brain itself in the perception of our mental health, and the lifestyle choices that can preventatively ward off the issues before they arise; things like nutrition, sleep, exercise, and social contact. We’ll be looking at the big one: depression and its connection to inflammation, and a wide range of buzz therapies including psychedelic therapy and cold water immersion.

Today’s guest has just written a book for the public on this topic “The Balanced Brain: The science of mental health”, and her lab at MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences in Cambridge bridges the gap between the nuts and bolts of cognitive neuroscience and the more mind base of clinical psychology. She is neuroscientist and author Camilla Nord. In 2022, she was named a Rising Star by the US Association for Psychological Science, and received the Young Investigator Award from the European Society for Affective and Cognitive Science.  

Now it strikes me that if we can integrate new evidence from brain research into the clinical psychology field, we‘ve got a much better shot at treating ever rising numbers of mental health diagnoses and perhaps educating a good portion of the next generation enough to avoid these issues all together. It may be a pipe dream but we’ve got to try.

What we discuss: 

00:00 Intro

07:00 Our perception of pain.

11:00 Body changes lead to mental health changes.

12:00 Our ‘Inside-out’ perception is an active predictor of our mental health and the outside world.

16:00 The importance of narrative repetition to our self-perception.

18:00 Individualised data and solutions to mental health are impractical for our one-size-fits-all medical systems on a budget.

23:30 Nutritional Psychiatry - the connection between diet and mental health.

26:30 Gut-brain axis importance.

28:00 The risk of dieting affecting pleasure centres and thus motivation and mental health.

30:00 Inflammatory diet choices and lifestyle leading to depression.

33:30 Microbiome research: promise vs wishful thinking.

37:45 Social connection, nature connection and connection to meaning.

40:45 Some mental health symptoms can be useful and adaptive.

43:20 Sport and physical exercise to improve mental health.

46:00 Depression leads to a lack of drive to obtain pleasure - Anhedonia.

48:20 Sleep neuroscience.

53:30 Anger management and ‘hangriness’.

56:20 The Placebo effect is a useful part of a treatment’s effect.

58:00 Changing diagnosis rates in mental health.

01:02:00 Psychedelic therapy was unpopular before the last 10 years of study.

01:06:00 MDMA’s uses for PTSD, and modifying beliefs and expectations.

01:08:10 Connection between psychosis and cannabis.

01:09:20 Cannabis CBD Oil treatment of THC addiction.

01:11:15 Cold water immersion for euphoria and pain tolerance.

01:13:00 The changing nature of mental health.

References:

Camilla Nord, “The Balanced Brain, the Science of mental health”.

Felicity Jacka, Nutritional psychiatry, Guardian Article

Metabolic health influences learning paper.

Clinical psychosis vs mediumship paper. Connection to symptoms changes mental health outcomes.

Oliver J Robinson - Adaptive anxiety paper

Wim Hof, Cold water Immersion method, list of science papers

Can time symmetry in physics, combined with exceptional violations of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, and the “quantum handshake” transactional interpretation of Quantum mechanics, open up main stream physics to the possibility of retro-causation? Could it help to explain the many paradoxes left open in modern physics? and is there experimental evidence for it?

Today we have the extraordinary possibility of retro-causation to get our heads around: the apparently impossible phenomenon of events in the present causing changes in the past, or future events having an effect in the present depending on how you want to look at it. Today we’ll be approaching this topic via the context of time symmetry in physics. As far back as 1947, French quantum physicist Olivier Costa de Beauregard, began to question the usual interpretation of time in quantum mechanics, intuiting that something was missing from the model for the many paradoxes in Quantum Mechanics to remain unexplained. And then, with others get on board over the years, in the 80’s, John G Kramer, agreed that the missing ingredient was found in time symmetry and he proposed a ‘quantum handshake’ between the waves passing forward and backward in time at the moment of collapse; in this Transactional Interpretation of quantum mechanics, Kramer claimed he had solved the paradoxes.

My guest today has put together this research, a re-interpretation of the 2nd law of thermodynamics based on violations where Entropy exceptionally does not hold, and theorisation about quantum correlates to consciousness to create a new theory of retro-causation, which he thinks can be tested. He is Daniel Sheehan, Author and Professor of Physics at the University of San Diego, specialist in plasma physics, violations of the 2nd Law thermodynamics and Retro-causation. He is the founder the Quantum Retro-causation symposia that met at The University of San Diego.

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro.

09:00 Time dilation: the twin paradox.

12:20 Time symmetry: reversible time functions in physics equations.

13:20 Violations of the 2nd Law, the Entropic arrow of time.

18:20 Wheeler’s bizarre altered double slit experiment.

23:15 Wheeler’s ‘Participatory Universe’.

26:00 The history of retro-causation research.

29:15 Bergmann and Lebowitz ‘Two-State Vector Formalism’ theory 1964

31:00 Kramer’s “Quantum Handshake” Transactional interpretation of QM.

35:30 Sheehan’s theory of retro-causation.

36:45 The assumption of quantum processes acting in the brain.

39:00 Issues with quantum consciousness hypotheses.

42:00 Macroscopic quantum systems.

50:00 Precognitive retro-causation experiments: Graff & Cyrus 

51:45 Triple blind experiments - blind ‘even to the universe’.

55:00 Is the subject finding out what actually happened important to the result?

57:00 Emotional charge in the future, influencing the past.

59:00 Are some events in the future already fixed?

01:01:30 Global Consciousness aggregate effects in physical systems.

01:02:30 Time symmetry allows the transmission into the past of important.

01:05:00 Wider science reception of such a paradigm shifting ideas as retro-causation.

01:05:00 Getting over our Second law biology habits.

References:

Vladislav Capek & Daniel P. Sheehan, “Challenges to The Second Law of Thermodynamics: Theory and Experiment”.

Stephen Wolfram, “Computational Foundations for the Second Law of Thermodynamics”

John Wheeler - Altered double double slit “Delayed Choice” experiment.

Bergmann and Lebowitz ‘Two-State Vector Formalism’ theory 1964

John G. Kramer’s “Transactional interpretation” of Quantum Mechanics.

Dale E Graff, Patricia S. Cyrus, ‘Perceiving the future news: Evidence for retrocausation’ Paper

Global Consciousness project at Princeton, Roger Nelson.

Quotes:

“The question is more important than the answer”, author unknown.

“Order is a state of mind, not a state of matter” On Entropy, Daniel Sheehan. 

How have we ended up in a meaning crisis and what are the symptoms? Why is embodiment important to knowing? Why is an ecology of practices part of the solution? Today we have the growing issue of The Meaning Crisis to discuss, and the embodied practices that could offer a few solutions. This conversation is a part 2, following directly on from Episode #51, where John and I talked about Collective intelligence, and how the evolution of distributed cognition has led to homo-sapiens being such effective collaborators. It was so fascinating that we didn’t have time to connect the sheer power of our collective intelligence, to today’s discussion about what John has dubbed The Meaning Crisis. We come back to the importance of our propensity for self-transcendence, and the correspondent risk of self-delusion; how important a sense of the sacred is to our sense of meaning in life, to our mental health; then we zoom in on the importance of a range of embodied practices that John calls an ecology of practices, like Chi Gong, circling, flow states and meditation to re-discover lost forms of knowledge and embodied cognition that John thinks can bring us back from the brink of self delusion and self destruction.

There is of course only one polymath who can speak about so many things and connect them all, like a ninja of the mind as one listener called him, the Cognitive scientist and philosopher John Vervaeke. Vervaeke is the director of the university of Toronto’s Consciousness and Wisdom Studies Laboratory and its Cognitive Science program, where he teaches an Introduction to Cognitive Science and The Cognitive Science of Consciousness. Vervaeke has taught courses on Buddhism and Cognitive Science in the Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health programs for 15 years. He is also the author and presenter of his much loved YouTube series “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” and ‘After Socrates.’

What we discuss:

00:00 Intro

06:15 Self-transcendence VS self-delusion.

07:45 The ‘frame’ problem, the need to ignore many things to attend to the ‘salient’ ones.

12:30 The history of meaning in the west.

17:00 The history of religion and philosophy: connectedness across generations.

20:00 Pre-agricultural sacred practices and rituals.

22:30 The upper palaeolithic transition - the artistic, technical, and symbolic.

24:30 The axial revolution - numeracy, literacy and democracy.

27:30 The ‘2 world’ mythology revolution - the natural and supernatural.

29:30 The scientific revolution - the collapse of the 2 world mythology.

31:20 The impossible promise of scientism.

38:00 The difference between wisdom and knowledge.

43:00 Participatory knowledge - graspable, shapable knowledge.

45:00 Gnosis - embodied knowledge.

49:30 The importance of the sacred to meaning.

54:00 Maladaptive replacement of religion with consumerism.

57:45 A relationship with the transcendent.

59:00 Becoming mature is about facing reality.

01:01:00 Loss of epistemic humility.

01:04:00 Loss of wonder

01:05:00 Humility + Wonder = reverence.

01:06:09 The disappearing of traditional men’s roles.

01:17:30 The changing of women’s roles.

01:23:50 Direct embodied experience

01:26:00 An ecology of practices - there is no single panacea practice

01:30:20 Dialogical over monological reasoning - we don’t become wise in isolation.

01:33:40 Flow States and the lowering of the ego mind.

01:38:00 Circling: Listening as an intentional action

01:41:30 Meditation helps break mental frames.

01:46:40 The lowering of the Default Mode Network

01:50:20 Tai Chi and Qigong. 

01:53:45 ‘Transjective’ embodiment

References:

John Vervaeke, “Awakening from the meaning crisis”, You Tube lecture series.

Why do we have the tendency to believe things when they may not be true? Why do we project patterns, agency and meaning onto the world when sometimes there is none? How can we consider the probabilities of conspiracies to identify the ones that may be true? How do we encourage brave journalism that calls out conspiracies even by powerful institutions, in spite of the pejorative term ‘conspiracy theorist’?

Why do we have the tendency to believe things when they may not be true? Why do we project patterns, agency and meaning onto the world when sometimes there is none? How can we consider the probabilities of conspiracies to identify the ones that may be true? How do we encourage brave journalism that calls out conspiracies even by powerful institutions, in spite of the pejorative term ‘conspiracy theorist’?

Today we have the uncomfortable topic of how our brains often believe things which aren’t true. The topic fits perfectly with our theme for series 4 of Self-transcendence vs Self-delusion. Our innate ability to notice patterns in systems, assign agency and find meaning in the world are among the reasons we’ve evolved to become so successful at predicting, understanding and creating meaningful collaborations in the world. But the issue with these abilities is that we might make the mistake of thinking what the brain assigns to the world for our own survival, is necessarily true of the world itself. Sure our brains do track the truth but truth is not always what’s needed for survival; so issues like negativity bias, confirmation bias and creating narrative stories that conveniently map onto our existing world view have become a deeply engrained part of our society. Add to this modern phenomena like the siloing of information by the internet into small echo chambers where only like minds come together; algorithmic amplification of memes led by the internet business model of “maximising engagement”; and decreasing trust in institutions, as economic inequality in the world increases exponentially, and you get a perfect storm of clashing beliefs about the truth.

Fortunately, our guest today is one of the most established sceptical voices in science who reminds us that we need to track closely the difference between what can be collectively confirmed to be true, and what our brains project to be true from the inside out. He is of course, New York Times best selling author and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine Michael Schermer; he wrote for 18 years for the Scientific American. He’s written nine books but today we’re going to focus on his books “The Believing Brain” and his new release “Conspiracy: Why the rational believe the irrational”.

What we discuss:

References:

Michael Schermer, “The Believing Brain"

Michael Scheremer, “Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational”

Michael Schermer, “The Moral Arc”

Scepticism 101 course: How to think like a scientist

Remote viewing Stargate Program documentary “Third Eye Spies”

Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean - ‘Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program’, NYTimes article