[ExI] quantum brains

Mike Dougherty msd001 at gmail.com
Tue Jan 19 03:40:14 UTC 2010


On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 6:11 PM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> You know, you could take this idea a step further. Let’s say there are a set
> of increasingly accurate but also increasingly difficult to “see” physical
> theories T_1, T_2, … where T_1 is classical physics, T_2 is quantum
> mechanics, T_3 is quantum gravity, T_4 is some crazy membrane whatnot, etc…
> imagine you can get increasing computational capability at every level of
> this hierarchy. Since each is increasingly “difficult to see” for its
> precursors, in order to harness the capabilities at level T_j you probably
> have to do a lot to make sure those “hard to see” effects can be used, which
> probably isolates you from the precursor levels…. in this picture the
> quantum brains would isolate themselves from the classical brains, and the
> quantum gravity brains (needing of course to be near black holes) would be
> hidden to the two precursor levels, etc. etc. etc.>

I have recently encountered "the golden ratio" (phi) being found in
something akin to quantum fractals, which set me thinking...  This
lead to string theory with it's 10 and 26 dimension description of
fermions and boson.  I have also recently encountered a very
simplified explanation of Genetic Algorithms that finally made this
concept click for me.  So I considered the 10 or 26 dimensions of
string theory to be roughly similar to genetic algorithmic coding for
genes.  Now typically physicists refer to the higher-than-4 dimensions
of spacetime as 'rolled up' because the interval of these other
dimensions is less than the Planck interval, so they apparently have
no detectable impact on spacetime so the equations collapse neatly
into the observable world.  However, I wonder if these extra
dimensions encode the universe's DNA in a computation space that is
implemented as what we call the "real" universe.  Perhaps even the
fitness of these universal DNA is measured by their ability to model
or evolve intelligence in the remaining 4D spacetime.  If you can
imagine the number of permutations of 26 dimensions (of which 4 are
the observable spacetime universe) then perhaps each is a sibling in
the current generation of universes being tested for the ability to
support and advance intelligence/self-organization.  In a
computation-theory sense, these worlds may be "parallel" or cleverly
coded to be computed in a serially and our perception of each is only
a feature of the spacetime itself. (in a similar way, that gravity is
believed by some to be a result of spacetime curvature or that
spacetime's curvature is detected as gravity - this symmetry of
causality may be a fundamental property of the manifold representing
the universe)

In response to the quoted paragraph above, the T_4 membrane thinker
may currently be driving lower-level realities for the express purpose
of an entire existence suited to the observation of the sound of
raindrops on the windshield of a parked car or the experience of a dog
fetching a ball...



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