An Overview of new findings in Quantum Biology that may help extend Quantum Theory in general; and that may help expand our understanding of human interconnectedness and the “paranormal” as well. I am not a guru, all interpretations are open for mindful, respectful discussion. I do appreciate you sitting through the rather long 20 minutes if you can afford to; hopefully you don't consider your time wasted. Thank You and Take Care!
Transcript and Links to Other Contributions by John Maguire Below the Line
*Disentangling the Quantum Enigma
This video requires a brief disclaimer. This is not the fulfillment of some grail quest meant to discover an elusive, unifying theory of everything. All theories, no matter how coherent, are inherently limited. The true nature of reality is far too vast to fully comprehend; its scope can never be encapsulated within any one model. All we can hope to do is logically formulate what makes sense to us based on evidence gathered through the use of our limited perceptions. As anthropologist Jeremy Narby, author of The Cosmic Serpent, puts it:
“[Nothing] is [certain]. There is so much mystery involving consciousness… [That] these are just ideas to play around with and to entertain rather than [some]…new form of certitude.”
With that said, let the wild speculation begin.
Quantum theory began challenging a number of established Western world views around the year 1930. For decades since, the enigmatic nature of quantum physics was thought to exist purely in the atomic and sub-atomic realm. Fundamental particles such as protons, electrons, photons, and the like, were proven to exhibit bizarre behaviors including entanglement, non-locality, and states of superposition; but such weirdness appeared unable to manifest on the macroscopic level of reality.
As a general rule, as objects increase in mass, and as environmental temperatures increase, quantum effects tend to fade away. Outside of highly controlled lab conditions, the integrity of quantum relationships appears to be highly delicate. The mere presences of air molecules or electromagnetic fields can be enough of a factor to collapse the quanta’s coherence. This can be likened to destructive signal interference due to environmental noise in standard information theory. But compounding evidence over the last decade or so has begun to poke considerable holes in these assumptions.
While physics followed a highly counterintuitive trajectory throughout the 20th century, biology progressed in a markedly more conservative direction. As far as most Neo-Darwinians were concerned, the workings of organic life had for the most part been figured out. Biogenesis, behavior, and inheritance could be chalked up to chemical processes involving DNA, genes, random mutation, and precise timing; while most questions surrounding sense perception were explainable by means of the classical lock-and-key receptor models. As I mentioned however, the developing field of Quantum Biology has revealed a large number of intriguing quantum relationships nested in macroscopic living systems that defy these traditional notions.
For example, a process known as quantum-walking has been discovered in the photosynthetic processing of purple and green sulfur bacteria. What is equally astounding is that approximately 40% of the biomass on planet earth is comprised of these bacteria; so this organism is not some minor exception to the rule. Strange quantum effects have also been observed in birds. Homing pigeons for example seem capable of sensing the orientation of earth’s electromagnetic field through a mysterious quantum process involving the excitation of entangled electron pairs by means of high-energy photon absorption.
As Rupert Sheldrake has noted, it is something of an enigma how schools of fish and flocks of starlings traveling in dense, coordinated formations are able to exhibit near instantaneous communication with one another as they sharply change direction. Likewise, wolves that are separated by hundreds of miles seem able to sense when their young are in danger. All these creatures seem to be exhibiting a novel form of entanglement that Sheldrake attributes to a coupling field effect.
Humans don’t appear to be any exception. It seems that our sense of smell is not readily explainable by the classical chemical receptor model. What researchers have discovered is that, strangely enough, despite there being only about 300 types of odorant-receptors in humans, we are able to experience over 10,000 different smells. The most likely explanation is that we actually sense smells via frequency resonance: the syncing of molecular vibrations with our internal receptors; similar to how a radio tunes into a specific signal. Also worth noting is that DNA seems to resemble a quantum computer. Physicist Elisabeth Rieper has stated that, “[In terms of Information flow] DNA seems to sit somewhere in the middle between classical and quantum computing…both classical and quantum information should be considered for a full understanding of DNA.”
So if quantum effects are indeed sustainable in what were once thought to be untenable biological systems, can we extend concepts such as entanglement and non-locality to help explain even stranger phenomenon like psi and sync? I would say Yes and No. While there appears to be little doubt that these quantum phenomena play a meaningful part in human functioning and interaction, Quantum theory as a whole proves to be an inadequate model for reality.
All Quantum mechanics really does is provide probabilistic analysis of seemingly isolated moments absent of process. Obviously its equations are elegantly constructed and have been useful in technological applications, but we shouldn’t be hypnotized by mathematics and technology alone. As mathematician Jeremy Dunning-Davies has said, “If the [math] throws up a result that does not accord with physical reality, it should be studied carefully, but not accepted immediately unless a genuine physical interpretation can be found.” Similarly, renowned physicist David Bohm once said: “Quantum mechanics as it stands now…is a very truncated, limited, abstracted set of formulae that gives certain limited results having to do with only one moment of an experiment. But out of this truncated view, physicists are trying to explain everything you see; the whole thing simply has no meaning at all…modern physics can’t even talk about the actual world!”
Many classically-trained, institutionalized scientists would strongly disagree with me. Any hypothesis that attempts to link science with mystical experience is usually quashed as matter of reflex. Take for example Physics Professor Jim Al-Khalili who says, “Cranks…who don’t understand it…suggest [Quantum Mechanics] can explain all other kinds of weird phenomena… [For example] Quantum mechanics…can explain telepathy because of entanglement and action at a distance…it can explain paranormal phenomenon…that’s not given much credibility at all in the scientific community.” Likewise David Deutsch, a quantum physicist at Oxford University has said: “It is utter rubbish. Telepathy simply does not exist. The Royal Mail has let itself be hoodwinked into supporting ideas that are complete nonsense”. They never explain their reasoning in depth because, as far as I can tell, they believe their positions are self evident.
There are others however who espouse a different point of view. Richard Wiseman, a well-known professional skeptic, has said, “I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that remote viewing is proven.” Jessica Utts, a Professor of Statistics, in a review done for the CIA stated: “Using the standards applied to any other area of science, it is concluded that psychic functioning has been proven.” If it is such an absurd notion to associate physics and the paranormal, why does a notable figure like Nobel laureate Brian Josephson maintain “There is a lot of evidence to support the existence of telepathy…but papers on the subject are being rejected – quite unfairly.” Josephson then goes on to say, “If scientists as a whole denounce an idea, this should not necessarily be taken as proof that the said idea is absurd; rather, one should examine carefully the alleged grounds for such opinions and judge how well these stand up to detailed scrutiny.”
In my opinion skeptics, debunkers, and materialist true believers should adopt a more humble attitude. In fact, we all should. To quote Nobel award winning physicist Richard Feynman: “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Who then is really in any position to say who is right and who is wrong on this matter? No one has a monopoly on truth, even in science; any belief to the contrary is a delusion fueled by egoism.
I believe that we can and should amend quantum mechanics, and in the process attempt to provide a coherent model for the paranormal. To do this, it would serve us well to integrate the theories of David Bohm. David Bohm made countless contributions to our understanding of physics in the 20th century, and hypothesized that if we extended Quantum mechanics through what he called the implicit order, we could answer the question of how past moments have effects on the present. And because the implicit order suggests that everything exists within an interconnected wholeness, non-local causality becomes both explainable and acceptable. A sensible analogy for order and wholeness can be seen in oceanic waves. Each newly projected wave is a composite-result of the past dynamics of the entire ocean, including other individual waves that preceded it. And as the wave crashes and re-injects itself into the water, it unavoidably alters the whole ocean’s dynamics, and helps shape the form of future wave projections.
Also worth critiquing is the role of consciousness. First, because human observation rapidly freezes isolated points in time and arranges them into sequential screenshots, we actually create those individual moments that quantum mechanics believe are primary. We once again mistake the map for the terrain. Second, while quantum physics has brought the question of the observer effect to the forefront, I believe it has failed to address the most critical question: where does consciousness actually reside? Despite decades of failed attempts to locate memory and consciousness inside the human brain, most scientists still believe the mind is an internalized, local phenomenon. Therefore, the concept of non-local interactions existing between minds makes little logical sense to them, and the idea of subtle connections across space and time between people remains the stuff of science fiction.
The physical embodiment of Bohm’s implicate order and the non-local mind can be found in the sub-quantum realm. As experimental proofs such as the Lamb Shift and Casmir Effect have demonstrated, the entire universe is underwritten by what is known as the quantum vacuum. While it has been accounted for in Quantum Field Theory, I believe its deeper implications continue to be overlooked. This highly energetic plenum of potential has been recognized in other times and cultures as the primordial Ether in ancient Greece, and the Akashic field in ancient India. It has been labeled in modern times as the Zero-Point Field. Physicists such as Dr. Paul LaViolette contend that all matter and energy spawns from, and is stabilized by, this transmuting flux. It accomplishes this through an open, non-linear systems process known as self-organization.
This transmuting ether field remains elusive to our observations for a number of reasons. Electrical engineer Moray B. King explains that the quantum vacuum is usually in a chaotic, incoherent state. The energy itself is everywhere, and would require a higher contrast of densities to detect. Also, it flows orthogonally to our observable 3-space, it rapidly changes frequency, and the higher frequency particles are unlikely to interact with matter. All this appears to be the most apparent reasoning for its subtle character.
The ether field serves an equally critical purpose beyond matter creation: it is a vast reservoir of information that orders and organizes the universe. At all times in the ether, vast numbers of virtual electrons and positrons interact and form rotating vortices. Because these vortices possess spin, they also produce magnetic effects. These electro-magnetic entities, like magnetic impulses in computers, are carriers of information. As these dynamic vortices and their corresponding torsion wave-fields travel throughout the vacuum, they collide with one another and form interference patterns. These interference patterns integrate and exchange information strands about the particle-vortices that created them. In this fashion, the vacuum field takes on the characteristics of an evenly distributed, interconnected holographic storage device. This vast, virtual memory bank is what’s constantly exchanging information with the world around us. As systems scientist Ervin Laszlo has said, “Information carried in the vacuum is not localized…nature’s holograms are cosmic holograms: they link – inform – all things with all other things.”
A good analogy for this concept is radar. A ship without radar is doomed to either sit still or wander aimlessly. Upon receiving a signal, the ship is not guided by the substantive force of it alone. Rather the shape and form of the radio-wave itself is what’s critical; the information-content of the waveform turns out to be the prime mover. So when all matter, and all people, are in a constant particle exchange with the ether flux, which is otherwise known as vacuum polarization, everything is passively tapping into the thoughts of the cosmic brain.
This is where phenomenon like Sync spawns out of. Synchronicity, as defined by Carl Jung in the 1920s, is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. Traditional science attempts to explain sync through probability theory: a branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of allegedly random phenomena. The problem with this explanation is that randomness as we understand it might not really exist. As David Bohm has said, “Chaos is an infinitely complex order…many people used to think it meant disorder…and many people still think [it’s random]…but it can be shown [otherwise] mathematically…[take for example a wave] crashing on the beach…it may look chaotic but it’s full of suborders.” This same principle has been well established in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and appears to be what’s taking place in the quantum vacuum. So what good is a mathematical approach based on deciphering an illusion?
If in fact the World is a giant organism, it could be said that we all play a small but critical part within the larger functioning of the whole. And like an organism signaling its cells, it should not seem so mysterious that the underlying information field of the planet would signal to each of us and orchestrate events that place us in positions to serve some larger purpose. It has been experimentally proven at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences that our decisions are made seconds before we become aware of them. In light of this, we must begin to ask ourselves: who is really in charge of our lives?
It is quite likely the human brain functions as an internal radio receptor that taps into non-local consciousness. Startlingly consistent accounts of ecstatic shamanic journeys, psychedelic experiences, and active dreaming all appear to reinforce this notion of a non-local consciousness. In our sober, waking life as well, we are still able to resonate with the underlying frequencies of the sub-quantum, holographic wave-space. Each of us is unique, so each of us connects with a different patterning of this substructure. In this way we tap into the implicit order, and then explicitly unfold it out into the world. This can and does take the form of meaningful synchronicities.
People like professor Al-Khalili would refer to all of this as a “Crank Theory”. But all the critics are simply throwing stones in a glass house. Let’s not forget that the theory of continental drift, put forward by Alfred Wegener in 1912, was once labeled as utter nonsense, and the term Wegener became synonymous with “idiot”. Von Mayer was hounded relentlessly for proposing the conservation of energy law in the 19th century, being driven to a nervous breakdown and psychiatric treatment. The arrogance of the establishment is at times reprehensible. If the world is to move forward, we need to gain some historical awareness, and ditch this ad hominem, compartmentalized mentality at all costs.
This is not some pointless intellectual exercise. We need both academics and non-academics to weigh in and dialogue for the sake of human progress. As neuroscientist Karl Pribram put it: “[Philosophers of Science] are very good at asking questions…they outline and delineate what the questions are…scientists are not good at the big questions…for things we haven’t been thinking about, we need the philosophers.”
Understand that I am not trying to imply that our lives, and the future, are completely deterministic. If thermodynamic systems analysis teaches us anything, it is that the future state of any non-linear system is always determined by some novel, unknown X-factor. We as humans, the most highly-conscious and creative creatures on earth, have the unusual capacity to break habits and create novelty. We are that X-factor. That is our collective purpose in the co-creative evolutionary process that lies before us. As author David Jack likes to say, we can either choose vanity or sanity.
By channeling broken ideologies through broken institutions, we are killing the biosphere and ourselves. Peak everything, widespread depression, war, economic instability; the list goes on. This is not the way it has always been, and I don’t believe this is our natural state. I feel our ass-backward, cultural operating system has warped and misguided mankind’s’ better instincts for thousands of years now. Many decentralized civilizations based on local tradition and natural, holistic approaches to daily life existed well before agricultural, stratified civilizations became established, and have co-existed in smaller numbers ever since. We stand to gain much by integrating their better cultural sensibilities into our own.
I’m not saying we should destroy all our technology and retreat into a cave somewhere. What I am saying is that collectively we need a new worldview and attitude adjustment, so that we can begin using our gifts and tools more wisely, more purposefully. As of now, materialist science simply contributes to our bleak, compartmentalized view of the world. Similar to other cultural dogmas, the current scientific paradigm has run head long into the law of diminishing returns. We need to make a shift for the sake of our collective survival. The longer we see ourselves as fractured bubbles of psychology, the longer we will unconsciously consume and turn the world into a festering garbage dump. Only through open, honest dialogue, and the propagation of coherent information, can we hope to develop a sane society. The realization of the world brain is not some collectivist conspiracy; it is a destiny we can help create as individuals for the betterment of all.
Thank you for enduring this rather long video, and take care.
Previous YouTubes from John Maguire:
John McGuire: YouTube (13:30) The Dawn of Open-Source Self-Sovereignty & The Human Element
John Maguire: YouTube (13:00) The Evolution of Open-Source Science
John Maguire: YouTube (7:36) The Curious Case for Open-Source Religion
John Maguire: YouTube (6:30) Robert Steele, Open-Source, and You
