In the search of a
definition for that nagging
entity inside our heads, it's comforting to know that the problem can be attacked by an old veteran in the difficult problem trade -
Physics. Is your ability to
think some sort of
magical ability or a physical process? Well, I think it can be shown that your
reaction to
stimulus and the storage of
memory is pretty well documented as a
biological process. But what of our ability to realize our
existence, and our perception of our
reality? Some theories attribute this to a
biological form of
Bose-Einstein condensation. Walker uses a nice
proof to tackle the question of the physical nature of our
consciousness.
(1) The science of physics defines for us what is meant by the term physical reality.
(2) Physics is based on data from physical measurements.
(3) Anything that cannot be physically measured is treated in physics as not having physical reality. Note in this regard that the major advances of 20th century physics -relativity, quantum mechanics, particle physics, and quantum thermodynamics, have all come from recognizing this subtle limitation that exists on the nature of physical measurement and physical reality.
(4) Therefore, if it is not possible to physically measure something, then it either does not exist, or we must treat it as being nonphysical.
(5) There exists something that, under certain circumstances, we experience and call pain (quite apart from any theory of consciousness, this is our basic datum).
(6) It is impossible to carry out any physical measurement to determine the answer to the meaningful (albeit facetious) question: Does an ice cube feel pain when it melts? (i.e., does any given physical system have an associated conscious experience when that system undergoes any specified physical process?)
(7) Therefore, since the conscious experience of feeling pain exists (quite apart from any ability on our part to account for its nature), but cannot be physically measured (although so-called correlates of it can be measured), the consciousness of things like pain must lie outside the domain of physically reality.
As a result of this we can assert the following postulate:
Consciousness is real but nonphysical.
- EVAN HARRIS WALKER (Noetic Journal, 1, 100-107, 1998)