Essay Abstract

The question 'It from Bit' or vice versa is the question of what is real. The answer is a matter of belief, so I analyze why physicists believe theories, including QED and QCD and follow with the simplest possible theory of the real world. I focus on the fact that gravity is real, and discuss a new approach to non-linearity. Because Wheeler's 'It from Bit' is tied to his 'Participatory Universe' I explore that topic and a theory of information based on gravity.

Author Bio

Edwin Eugene Klingman was a NASA Research Physicist (atomic & molecular). His 1979 PhD dissertation, (now published as "The Automatic Theory of Physics"), describes how numbers and math derive from physical reality and how a robot would derive a theory of physics based on pattern recognition and entropy. Founder of three Silicon Valley companies, he holds 33 technology patents and has published two university texts, "Microprocessor Systems Design" Vol I and II. He has recently non-linearized the weak field equations of relativity, and is now applying the technique to problems mentioned in this essay.

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Dear Sir.

The master presenter has done it again! Presented a highly readable multidisciplinary essay with the right conclusions.

Mathematics explains only "how much" one quantity accumulates or reduces in an interaction involving similar or partly similar quantities and not "what", "why", "when", "where", or "with whom" about the objects involved in such interactions. These are the subject matters of physics.

Mathematics is also related to the measurement of time evolution of the state of something. These time evolutions depict rate of change. When such change is related to motion; like velocity, acceleration, etc, it implies total displacement from the position occupied by the body and moving to the adjacent position. This process is repeated due to inertia till it is modified by the introduction of other forces. Thus, these are discrete steps that can be related to three dimensional structures only. Mathematics measures only the numbers of these steps, the distances involved including amplitude, wave length, etc and the quanta of energy applied etc. Mathematics is related also to the measurement of area or curves on a graph - the so-called mathematical structures, which are two dimensional structures. Thus, the basic assumptions of all topologies, including symplectic topology, linear and vector algebra and the tensor calculus, all representations of vector spaces, whether they are abstract or physical, real or complex, composed of whatever combination of scalars, vectors, quaternions, or tensors, and the current definition of the point, line, and derivative are necessarily at least one dimension less from physical space.

The graph may represent space, but it is not space itself. The drawings of a circle, a square, a vector or any other physical representation, are similar abstractions. The circle represents only a two dimensional cross section of a three dimensional sphere. The square represents a surface of a cube. Without the cube or similar structure (including the paper), it has no physical existence. An ellipse may represent an orbit, but it is not the dynamical orbit itself. The vector is a fixed representation of velocity; it is not the dynamical velocity itself, and so on. The so-called simplification or scaling up or down of the drawing does not make it abstract. The basic abstraction is due to the fact that the mathematics that is applied to solve physical problems actually applies to the two dimensional diagram, and not to the three dimensional space. Yet, there is an unreasonable over-dependence on mathematics by physicists - often wrongly.

For example, the equality sign in the mass energy equation only shows that both mass and energy are inseparable conjugates (if one becomes zero, the other becomes zero) and their proportion in the totality vary in a fixed proportion like the two sides of the scale - if more is added to one side, it goes down (becomes dense) and vice versa. Yet, this has been interpreted as both mass and energy are exchangeable. No, only the product becomes different, that makes for all the variations in the universe. And this also supports that "Planck satellite data shows with high precision that we live in a remarkably simple universe" made complicated by modern scientists.

Geometry is related to tangible structures that are directly perceptible. The so-called space-geometry is actually geometry of objects in space. Without objects, there can be no geometry of space. Gravity is a force that is indirectly perceptible through its effects only. How can geometry be used to explain gravity? If the space between the apple and the Earth curved, why only the apple became close to Earth; why does that space behaves as if it has not changed or did not affect other bodies? We can pass through that space without bending,

It is correct that "Linearizing an equation does not make a non-linear field linear". Yet, the reverse process has been done and followed in an arbitrary manner violating the principles of mathematics. . The wave function is determined by solving Schrödinger's differential equation: d2ψ/dx2 + 8π2m/h2 [E-V(x)]ψ = 0.

By using a suitable energy operator term, the equation is written as Hψ = Eψ. The way the equation has been written, it appears to be an equation in one dimension, but in reality it is a second order equation signifying a two dimensional field, as the original equation and the energy operator contain a term x2. The method of the generalization of the said Schrödinger equation to the three spatial dimensions (adding two more equal terms by replacing x with y and z) does not stand mathematical scrutiny. A three dimensional equation is a third order equation impling volume. Addition of three areas does not generate volume [x+y+z ≠ (x.y.z)] and [x2+y2+z2 ≠ (x.y.z)]. Thus, there is no wonder that it has failed to explain spectra other than hydrogen. The so-called success in the case of helium and lithium spectra gives results widely divergent from observation.

Yet, the conclusions are all correct! "A bit has meaning only when a real change in form of the structure occurs. All else is simply energy exchange". And all these are guided by gravity. "Bits and information imply consciousness; knowledge and meaning of information require awareness!"

Regards,

basudeba

    Dear Eugene,

    thank you very much for your very inspiring essay.

    I was surprised to find even esoteric aspects in your profound approach, f.e. the Not-Two aspect of reality, which is indeed terribly difficult for our brains to deal with.

    I am convinced that our Universe bases fundamentally upon such a Not-Two conception (which I am calling the "Principle of Radical Non-Duality"). The Wave-Particle Duality of Light is - as conceived by me - nothing else than a physical reflection of this fundamental principle.

    It implies that wave and particle are two distinguishable aspects of one and the same reality comparable with the two sides of one and the same coin.

    Einstein was quite unhappy about this dualism (i.e. this Not-Two aspect of light). He could not accept quantum mechanics because in quantum mechanics this duality was actually consolidated as a fundamental principle whereas Einstein dreamed of Oneness instead of Not-Two-Ness.

    If we accept this duality of wave and particle as being a fundamental aspect of light, it would be natural, to assume that the speed of light c is of dual nature as well. That means the fundamental constant of c should be given twice - in a wave-like version and in particle-like version. In special relativity only one of these two faces of c has been taken into account, expressed by its second postulate.

    In this way the Not-Two aspect of reality - if taken as a fundamental feature of reality - implies revolutionary physical consequences like the existence of a hidden face of c. If this concequence were true, special relativity would be fundamentally incomplete.

    When P. Dirac combined Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity, just this incompleteness of special relativity became integral part of QED. To me this incompleteness of special relativity is the misleading core of QED, in particular with respect of the relativistic version of Lorentz symmetry.

      Dear Edwin,

      I enjoyed very much reading your essay, and I like your criticism on how physics is done, unfortunately too often today, much like in the theory of epicycles. I tend to see all these as explorations of alternative possibilities, so that natural selection can eventually apply to the various approaches. Thanks for citing my essay. It is good to see that you touched very well the theme, and I wish you good luck with the contest and with your GEM!

      Best wishes,

      Cristi

      Cristi Stoica

        Dear Basudeba,

        Thank you for beginning my comments with such a gracious remark. Before responding I wanted to review your current essay and was rewarded with a high density of insights. You have captured the essence of perception when you say that

        "Perception is the processing of [...] something with some stored data to convey a combined form 'it is like that'..."

        and

        "In the perception "this (object) is like that (the concept)", one can describe "that" only if one has perceived it earlier."

        That is, it was not meaningful the first time!

        You say, "our thoughts consist of words with etymological or fixed meanings [...] which are preserved in Nature [and hence across cultures and languages!]"

        You have clearly spent much time analyzing perception.

        And your summary of Shannon is masterful.

        Best regards,

        Edwin Eugene Klingman

        Dear Helmut,

        Thank you for your kind remarks. You and I are in complete agreement on the fundamental 'not-two'-ness of reality.

        I have read and enjoyed your essay and am grateful for your reference to de Broglie's "Thermodynamics of the Isolated Particle". I thought that I had read most of de Broglie (one of the greatest physicists) but I was unaware of this paper. I have just downloaded it but (at 104 pages) have not read it yet. When I do I may have more questions or comments.

        Your essay asks "Is the Planck constant itself the natural digit?" It is, in my theory, the quantum condition that enables a continuum to possess a threshold, thereby defining "two-ness" -- above or below the threshold of action. This is the essence of 'bit'.

        We agree in principle on the particle wave nature of reality, but perhaps differ in details. For example the electron effectively "condenses" from a C-field vortex and exists as a stable soliton-like particle which is inherently accompanied by C-field circulation (the 'wave'). Thus both the particle and the wave are 'forms' of the gravitational field that exist simultaneously and inseparably. In this sense,

        "Wave and particle are two distinguishable aspects of one and the same reality..."

        Best,

        Edwin Eugene Klingman

        Dear Cristi,

        I'm glad you enjoyed my essay. I agree with you that natural selection is the ideal way for physics to involve. As I noted in my essay this requires that all premises be subject to question. Jaynes pointed out the necessity of this.

        Thanks for your good wishes and good luck to you also.

        Edwin Eugene Klingman

        Edwin,

        What can I say. I started with a page to note the bits I agreed and any compliments and another for the bits I didn't fully agree with or grasp.

        I now have a short essay and a blank sheet of paper.

        Absolutely brilliant job. It deserves to be number one, and may even, god forbid, be noticed by the judges. OK, we mustn't get carried away, perhaps just a couple of Nobel prizes!

        As there's no room for me to identify all the analogies and commonality with my own essay I'll leave it to you to do that 'Easter Egg hunt'. But I can't compare mine to yours. ill I've done is drawn a line between reality and maths, and resolved the EPR paradox. A drop in the ocean relative(istical)ly.

        Just one point I'd offer, on; " ...the self-interaction grows until a threshold is reached, whereupon the field grows in strength almost without limit!"

        In reality we have the Unruh effect, now not found as just due to acceleration but essentialy photoionization or condensation increasing with velocity, and I've also now derived the clear real physical mechanism of the curve and LT limit gamma. Perhaps we'' chat privately on that one.

        Very best of luck. I think you've excelled this year.

        Do let me know if you could follow all mine ok, I fear I made it far too dense yet again!

        Peter

          Peter,

          Thanks for your wonderful comment. As Philip Gibbs pointed out elsewhere, the goal is not so much to 'win' as to record the ideas, so that, when the establishment discovers them one can point to the record. But I really do appreciate your sentiments.

          As for the "grows in strength almost without limit" aspect, the limit of course is determined by the driving force, which is always finite, but not by any 'mechanism' or inherent limit. If you have ideas about the Unruh effect (and I know you do) feel free to communicate them to me by email. I am not sure I understand the point above, but look forward to your elaboration.

          I have read your essay, and it is definitely dense! I plan to return to it and others for review now that mine is posted.

          Thanks again, Peter, and best wishes for you,

          Edwin Eugene Klingman

          Dear Edwin

          I enjoyed your guided tour into realms of ideas that are brilliant, inspiring and always thought-provoking. I could not follow everything, and did not agree with everything that I did understand. You have the right combination of technical grasp and mental stamina, and have scribbled a treasure map with the few equations you distilled from the infinite tangle of those available. With this map you propose to find the way out of the jungle that physics has become full of untamed beasts (many mythical). And it has a friendly elephant too! Excellent!

          Your kernel equation of the self-interacting field is very much how I see the self-assembly and self-convolution of a Beautiful Universe (BU) made up of a lattice of nodes interacting with adjacent ones as I have described elsewhere.

          In the Einstein Maxwell equation what does the vector v represent? A variable speed of light? If so it is exactly as Eddington proposed that the vacuum has a coefficient of refraction n= c/v according to the local density, as incorporated into my (BU).

          Thank you for quoting many of Smolin's bon-mots - I was not aware of this one - "the theory of epicycles was good to one part in 1000"..."Neither mathematical beauty nor agreement with experiment can guarantee that the ideas a theory is based on bear the slightest relation to reality." Bravo - so true.

          Now where I tend to disagree with you is about gravity being a basic attribute. You say "Energy has mass, and mass gravitates". Hmm this is too sweeping a statement - perhaps you are sweeping some mechanism for how energy gets converted to mass and its gravitational field under the cosmic carpet. Yes (m) and (e) are mutually convertible but they are are not the same thing. Mass may be a knot of energy that prevents the energy propagating, whirring in place instead. So the gravitational field has energy but it is only created when mass is created. This process becomes very clear in (BU) when two nodes twist and their ( -) poles 'click' in place and the adjacent nodes twist accordingly and the effect propagates through the vacuum by twisting other nodes. If indeed gravity is due to such twisting, it is not at all a fundamental property. But perhaps we are thinking the same thing and the terminology is different.

          You said "Gravity is a field, not abstract geometry". Bravo- and so much for General Relativity. I have stressed this point in (BU) theory where the local potential density slows down light, not flexes space-time.

          In your mass-flow induced C-field diagrams should not the arrow follow the right hand rule and spin in the other direction?

          You said "I hypothesize that awareness came into existence but once". Interesting and tantalizing, although again I do not see how this can be so. Are you talking about some sort of Teilhard de Chardin-like Noo-Sphere or a mystical universe that envelops the physical one? I sympathize with your drift to the neo-mystical because all this science has hardened our minds (at least it did mine) whereas mystical/religious experiences, while being "real", have no physical theory to explain them and give them weight in this too-confident age.

          You touch on other interesting things in your gem of a paper, but I had better stop here. Best of luck with your ongoing research and work.

          Vladimir

            Dear Sir,

            You have proposed a different field, never seen, as the consciousness field and the field is aware of both position and motion aspects of reality - Space and Time! Did you realize that by this you have not only made a universally true statement that can explain the creation event?

            If you bring down position and motion to fundamental levels (Space and Time are later derivatives), then position becomes the background structure on which motion acts multiplied by inertia. This, in turn, generates friction due to the reverse process of inertia of restoration (elasticity) of the background structure that acts like the bow-shock effect for the boat in a river. Where the inertia of restoration dominates, motion becomes zero cutting off a big chunk and returning back to repeat this process again. The successive motions are less energetic. Thus, viewed at the current rate of motion, everything will look far off the center. This is the true explanation of the current state of the universe and not the so-called Inflation.

            In the universal scale, position can exist on its own independently, but motion is energy that requires an object to move to make it perceivable. Thus, the universal position can form the background structure. Since there is no true void, nothing moves in a straight line, because the object next to it obstructs it and it must "scrape through" by displacing that object laterally. This is because, all micro and planets, stars and galaxies, etc, are nearly spherical - their diameter is related to their circumference by a ration √10 instead of π. Thus, the universe is spinning on its axis making the galactic clusters look temporarily receding from each other, though no such effect is seen in lesser scales - the Solar system is not expanding. This explains the so-called dark energy, which is an oxymoron - if it is dark (non-interacting), it cannot be energy, which is perceptible only through its interactions.

            You are correct that "It makes sense only if consciousness is inherently a field which concentrates locally to become aware of local structure and 'in'-formation - the formation of a model or encoded structure within more comprehensive structure". The in-formation part implies that there is a sequence. We have repeatedly shown how space and time arise out of the concept of sequence. But there is another important angle here. The observer (relatively static) and the observable (transitory) are related through the mechanism of observation. The content of all observations is "I perceive this...(different observables)". Thus, from the angle of observation, all A=A. But when it comes to the observable, A is not A. The other A represents the material world, where everything is discrete. The relation, which makes the observation possible, is the fundamental force gravity.

            Have you ever wondered the difference between force and energy? Free on-line dictionary defines force as "The capacity to do work or cause physical change; energy, strength, or active power" in the general category, but changes to "A vector quantity that tends to produce an acceleration of a body in the direction of its application" in the physics category. The same dictionary defines energy as "The capacity for work or vigorous activity; vigor; power" and "The capacity of a physical system to do work" in general and physics category respectively. The word "capacity to cause" physical change means, energy in its stored or potential state is force. In its kinetic state (vigorous activity), it is interaction and after it ceases to act, it is action. Though the three are only evolutionary states of the same thing, they are physically different.

            Gravity has two functions: structure formation that makes particles interact and its complement displacement that makes particles separates. Gravity as a "force" stabilizes orbits between interacting bodies, when both bodies circle around a point called barycenter. If you take the distance from this point to the centers of each body, draw a square of that length and distribute the mass of the two bodies in the reverse field, you will find some interesting results. We leave it to you for working it out so that you can draw your own conclusions. For this reason, gravity is closer to magnetism. Bodies with strong magnetic fields exhibit high gravitational potential also.

            On the other hand, gravity as "energy" in its structure formation function; makes particles interact in four different combinations of proximity-distance variables (proximity-proximity, proximity-distance, distance-proximity and distance-distance) between the two bodies involved in interaction. These four are expressed as strong, weak nuclear, electromagnetic interaction and radioactive disintegration respectively.

            The states of matter are described their dimension, which differentiate the "internal structural space" - bare mass from the "external relational space" - the radiative mass. It is perceived through electromagnetic radiation (ocular perception), where an electric field and a magnetic field, move perpendicular to each other and also to the direction of their motion. Thus, we have three mutually perpendicular dimensions. For this reason, we classify the states of matter as solid, fluid or gaseous, depending upon whether the dimension is fixed, unfixed or unbound. Since gravity displaces all three types from each other, it appears in 3 x 2 1 = 7 types. Thus, all the present models of gravity, which treats it as one type, fail outside the Solar System.

            These are elaborations of our essay, which harmonize with your essay.

            Regards,

            basudeba

              Dear Vladimir,

              Knew you'd like the elephant!

              The vector v is the velocity of the local mass (actually mass density, rho) so that the combination (rho)(v) is momentum density. The existence of momentum density then (according to Maxwell's, Einstein's, and my own equations) gives rise to a circulating gravitomagnetic field exactly analogous to the manner in which a charge current density gives rise to electromagnetic field circulation. 'v' can be any (nonzero) velocity up to the speed of light.

              I agree that Smolin has done an excellent job of analyzing current problems. [Not so good on solving them.] The one you quoted is very important.

              As for energy and mass, I'm not sure I can satisfy you. The current belief, which I share, is that the energy of the field does have "mass equivalence" and does gravitate. You may be asking about 'matter' which I tend to think of as "condensed mass".

              All theories have to have some basic 'substance' or 'field' or 'something' since no one knows how to derive a real physical universe from 'nothing' (although I think that's what the Platonists are striving for.) In my theory it's gravity. I feel it, it acts on me, it's real. Rather than derive gravity from some imaginary field, I simply accept it as real and try to derive everything else from that reality, starting only with the idea that it must evolve, since our current condition is not the initial or original condition of the universe.

              In my earlier essays I developed the aspect of there being initially nothing but gravity. In other words the energy of the gravitational field itself is the only mass in existence. This may seem tricky but I am unaware of any theory of creation of the universe that is absolutely straightforward. If one accepts this hypothesis, everything follows from there. One has to start with something and I start with one field, the gravitational field, and one condition, that it can only evolve through self interaction. All of my essays are based on this hypothesis, which is essentially what Eugenio Calabi also based his theory on.

              I have, in the basic C-field circulation equation, suppressed the minus sign by incorporating it into the kappa coefficient. This sign makes the circulation left-handed (which it actually is.) You have a good eye for visual detail.

              Your question about Chardin is on target, but I do not propose a mystical field that *envelops* the physical one. It *is* the physical one, properly understood. Self interaction implies, to some extent, self-awareness. That is the Participatory Universe Wheeler proposed. It started as One, Not-two, and evolved to our current state.

              Thank you for your interest and your well wishes.

              Edwin Eugene Klingman

              Dear Basudeba,

              In answer to your first paragraph, despite the broad nature of the claims made in my essay, I have not exhausted the implications of the theory. Both the 9-page limit and psychological realities operate to limit my claims, but I am generally aware of the implications of the theory.

              As for your finding harmony with your theory, I am pleased. As one works with a theory over time, one develops intuitions, terminologies, and concepts that support the theory. In communication with others it is often necessary to spend time in translation. Of course it is best when the solutions to the equations also support the theory! As I have only recently developed the current technique, I have a number of calculations to perform before I can demonstrate some of the implications.

              Best,

              Edwin Eugene Klingman

              Dear Edwin,

              Nice to read and comment your next essay.

              You are right saying: "Not all theories make predictions, yet some physicists seem to believe in these because of the 'beauty' of the math. But what about theories that do make predictions testable by experiment? What does 'testable by experiment' mean? Generally it means a theory can fit the data."

              You claim also that: "Gravity is real. This is experientially obvious, yet gravity is considered mere geometry by many..." I have proposed a simple experiment to prove or falsify your statement about gravity:

              http://vixra.org/abs/1304.0027

              If the photon spin in my experiment will not change as predicted by my concept (at this point contrary to QM) and calibrated measurement will show that, the concept will fit the data. This spin experiment is simple and has only two possible outcomes. If physicists claim that physics is nothing more than geometry it does not mean that it is not real. I do not think that geometry itself is the reality but I try to use it as a model of reality helping me to imagine and understand the laws of physics and create predictions about the reality evolution. The geometrical point of view together with an evolutionary approach lets me reason that the universe is a dissipative coupled system that exhibits self-organized criticality. This structured criticality is a property of complex systems where small events may trigger larger events. This is a kind of chaos where the general behavior of the system can be modeled on one scale while smaller- and larger-scale behaviors remain unpredictable (this is also Smolin point of view). The simple example of that phenomenon is a pile of sand. When QM and GR are computable and deterministic, the universe evolution (naturally evolving self-organized critical system) is non-computable and non-deterministic.

              After the same Smolin you claim "Neither mathematical beauty nor agreement with experiment can guarantee that the ideas a theory is based on bear the slightest relation to reality." So tell me what could possibly give us the guarantee? If anything? I know this is a hard issue with our perception involved.

              Best regards

                Jacek,

                Thanks for reading and commenting. In your abstract you note that "answers can differ from one scientist to another". In my abstract I say that "what is real... is a matter of belief." You ask what could possibly give us a guarantee that the ideas a theory is based on bear the slightest relation to reality? I don't believe that anything can do so, although I do believe we can do much better than the Standard Model. Currently there many anomalies in physics, which are places where theory doesn't work. If we came up with a theory that had no anomalies, it would certainly seem to have a far greater probability of reflecting reality.

                In your table 1, you define the mental world by "conscious observers in the universe are creators of illusion." While I believe I know what you mean, the word 'illusion' in Wikipedia means to 'distort reality' -- I don't think of mental models as distorting reality but as recording it in a neural structure (at least) and interpreting it through, as Basudeba noted above, the perception that "this is like that". I see this as representation, not illusion. Nevertheless, as you probably mean, it is an *idea* of reality, not direct reality. I think that this is what Einstein meant by "illusion", that is, 'idea' but not necessarily 'wrong idea', just incomplete. Yet if, as you seem to believe, reality is a field (or fields?) then we too are part of the field and are actually inseparable from reality, as opposed to disconnected from reality. That is pretty much what I believe.

                I've read your essay and your viXra paper and do not understand the experiment. Have you considered geometric diagrams or math as a way of making the rationale clearer? I agree with you that the result of the spin experiment would be significant, but I don't understand the reasoning you base it on. In this respect, one physical experiment on neutron interferometry described by Sakurai in 'Modern Quantum Mechanics' concludes "gravity is not purely geometric at the quantum level because the effect depends on (m/h)."

                In viXra you note "the space-time is not the background, but the material of matter and energy itself...". That is how I see it also. You and I are close to agreement on reality. You discuss "the self-organized space-time in the form of [waves] being physical world and perceptual experience (mental world) at the same time". I agree with this almost completely. But then you think this is "created" out of a Platonic math world. Here I disagree completely, for reasons outlined in my essay. In short we appear very close in our understanding of mental and physical, but very far apart in our understanding of mathematics. That is to be expected in this particular essay contest!

                Best,

                Edwin Eugene Klingman

                Edwin,

                Quite a mindfull. Much of it above my paygrade though.

                If I may make a few observations about the section on consciousness;

                "Awareness is located in the field, but concentrated where the action is.'

                The example I tend to think of is of a magnifying glass, focusing light to a point. When we draw it out, the light is diffuse and fills the whole circle, while when we draw it in and concentrate the light to a point, there is shadow in the surrounding area. I find concentration to be like this; Isolating from the broader network of beingness. It is when we blend, unfocused, with what is around us, that we are one with it. Meditation is the conventional model, but steady activity works just fine.

                I think though, that I would compare awareness to light, rather than gravity, while gravity is the coming together that is knowledge. Like light, awareness is constantly pushing at its surroundings. looking for whatever crack it can find, constantly moving on. While knowledge is the thought structures, insights and observations that form and either grow, if we keep adding more attention/energy to them, or are forgotten, if our awareness moves onto something else. Only those thoughts which hold together and grow are what we would think of as logic, while the rest are only connected as a stream of consciousness. Awareness is what is present, the hands of the clock, constantly taking on new forms, or building up the old ones and knowledge is events, marks on the face of the clock, that come into being and recede, like waves, either crashing or fading. So with galaxies and gravity, the structure falls into the vortex, while the light radiates out. Awareness moving on, as thoughts fade away.

                There is a political relationship in here as well, since conservatism is the structure, seemingly hard and fast, yet constantly crumbling and consolidating, while liberalism tends to be more the soft connecting tissue, radiating out and growing, yet never quite grasping and when it does, becoming conservative and solid. Like youth and age. Light and structure.

                  Hi John,

                  Thanks for reading and commenting. I'm always interested in your ideas, as you tend to take a more catholic approach, and don't sweat the details. But, of course, the devil is in the details!

                  I'm very happy that FQXi has finally created an essay contest where the topic of 'consciousness' must be treated, since knowledge, information, interpretation, meaning, and similar terms make no sense in a dead, unaware, universe.

                  John, you say: "I think though, that I would compare awareness to light, rather than gravity...". But I am not "comparing". I am stating (proposing) that self-awareness *is* the nature of gravity, not *is like* gravity. This is a very important distinction. The field exists, and has a 'nature'.

                  I just finished posting on another thread you are also contributing to, (forum/topic/1778) and I will repeat the relevant content here:

                  I consider consciousness to be a field capable of awareness and volition. The awareness is of mass flow, including the mass of the field energy itself, ie, self-awareness. The "information" that 'in'-forms the brain is energy that contributes to (at one level) the establishment, through learning or adaptive response, of connectivity between neurons that results in complex 3-D flows of ions in axons and vesicles across synapses. Actually 4-D flows, since they are dynamic. Thus the visual (or other) senses stimulate the neural network and activate a pattern of mass flows through it. This is typically a very specific pattern whose interconnectivity has already been learned.

                  As Basudeba pointed out in a comment above, the perception (or awareness) is essentially "(this) is like (that)". It is in this way that we gain our understanding of reality. He also mentioned that: "in the perception "this (object) is like that (the concept)", one can describe "that" only if one has perceived it earlier."

                  That is, it was not meaningful the first time!

                  That is, one can correlate only after there is something to relate to.

                  That is why, for example, if one meets someone at a party with an unusual name, it's very hard to understand the name the first time one hears it. Similarly, one must listen to complex music more than once to hear the complexity.

                  This model answers (for me at least) Lev's question of "How do I recognize a previously unseen cat as a 'cat'?"

                  It also has seemingly unrelated implications, such as why one can, in a dream state, get caught in a "loop".

                  This model, nor any other, does not 'explain' awareness, per se, but, as a self-aware being, I know it exists. If it is of the proposed field nature, aware of complex dynamic mass flows determined by learned connections (in 4D) I believe the above captures the essence of our mental nature, and fits with my definition of intelligence as "consciousness plus logic", where the logic is physical interconnectivity in the network(s). We know that multiple networks are interconnected, so this model also yields hierarchical structures of 'ideas'. Thus 'thinking' is simply appropriate self-generated stimulation of these dynamic flows, while 'observing' is external stimulation of these dynamic flows, and dreaming is semi-random stimulation of these flows.

                  The key to all of the above is the field's awareness of local mass flow. This is the significance of the C-field circulation equation relating local circulation to local mass current density. This comment is the tip of the iceberg. Much more ice can be found in my essays and books.

                  As simply a matter of interest, this comment (and all my comments) was dictated to Dragon software. If software is capable of pattern recognition of this order, the model I describe above is capable of pattern recognition of the order that we exhibit.

                  Best,

                  Edwin Eugene Klingman

                  Edwin,

                  The distinction is between awareness and self-awareness. Yes, I do agree self-awareness is (a form of) gravitational feedback. Yet as I point out in the analogy of the magnifying glass, when we become too self-aware, it becomes that gravitational collapse into narcissism, personal obsessions and political fanaticism, that causes isolation. Much as gravity points to a center, without having a point at the center, the sense of self becomes a vortex. And motivates the sort of people who end up either behind bars, or running large corporations. Or both. (Large centralized organizations are gravitational vortices, with requisite cult-like tendencies.) Not to say we are all not the center of our own view of the universe, but best to keep it in perspective. We need to maintain the connective tissue that is like the light simply radiating out and not ever coming back, but will locate our position for a long time to come, to whomever else is aware.

                  Not that I have anything against gravity, but like everything else, best in moderation.

                  John,

                  I think we're failing to communicate. You're talking analogy. I'm talking 'nature of'. My position is not 'It's like..." but "It is...". Philip Gibbs says his ideas are radical. My ideas are radical: the idea that gravity is aware is radical. After 7 years of exploring this idea I am more than ever convinced of the reality of it. But then everyone who writes an essay on FQXi is convinced of the validity of their ideas, so what else is new?

                  I don't expect to change any minds. I'm aware of only one person changing their mind on FQXi in the last 5 years! But it's an excellent forum to present ideas, and record with a time/date stamp, so that's what I do here.

                  I would ask that you consider the difference between 'it's like..." and "it is...", although the modern relativist view is to deny the possibility of the latter; too absolutist. I get the feeling from your comments that you are missing my point. I am not analogizing, or coming up with a cool 'viewpoint'. I'm trying to explain the nature of awareness, which is key to the topic of this contest. It takes a while for radical ideas to sink in. That's the meaning of Basudeba's point above. There has to be the first 'that' before there can be the realization that 'this is like that'. So I keep banging on building the structure that allows things to fit into place.

                  In short, awareness is a field property, while perception is awareness of the relation between structures that information has built into one's brain. The question is how awareness couples to physical reality. The general fuzzy idea that prevails today is that arrangements of matter lead to awareness. Instead, the field is inherently aware, and always has been. But the biological evolution reached the point where energy, sensed by bio-physical mechanisms, is stored as information (because it creates formations within) and these then lead to perception. It was a long process, but without the built-in awareness, I don't believe it would have ever happened. No possible arrangement of matter is capable of creating awareness from a non-aware piece of matter. But, given a field that couples to structural flows that 'model' the thing of interest, one can perceive the thing of interest and similar things.

                  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to expound.

                  Have Fun,

                  Edwin Eugene Klingman