The Biosphere as a Conscious Entity [04/11/01]

What phenomenon "creates" human consciousness? Scientists will rightly observe that it is, apparently, a result of the complex interaction and patterning of firing brain neurons. It remains a very deep metaphysical issue as to why such a thing as firing neurons should somehow be capable of creating the complex phenomenon of a human mind-- but we at least have a basic understanding of brain process to associate with what we call consciousness.

But how can we redefine the phrase, "firing of brain neurons"? The thing that is fundamentally going on within the brain is that information is being exchanged in very complex ways. The degree of information exchange is at a level that current science cannot even begin to comprehend. From an Information Processing Theory perspective, the complexity of the human "computer" that is the brain is beyond reckoning with the current state of human science. However, it still can be reduced to the complex exchange of information. And for some reason (this is just the way Reality works...) such a system like the human brain will create the sensation that we all recognize as the conscious mind, complete with an ego.

So if complex information exchange is capable of generating consciousness, what other informational systems are potential candidates? One day, using sophisticated AI algorithms and heuristics, a computer system may become conscious and be actually recognized as such by its human creators. It can be argued that my existing 300 MHz computer is still a little bit conscious (just as a frog or a patch of mold is a little bit conscious), but I am talking about a level of consciousness comparable to a human. So until the day that a computer network becomes self-aware, what else remains as a candidate? The obvious answer is the Earth itself, seen as a whole.

The Earth biosphere embodies an astounding interaction of plants, animals and their environments. Just imagine the astounding complexity of the plant/animal networks and species interactions crawling across the forest floor of the Amazon rainforest. If a patch of rainforest were to be analyzed in its entirety (an ominous task for future biologists), would it approach the networked complexity of brain tissue? Could not the biosphere's complexity create new meta-consciousness that overlays the consciousness of its component parts? This is the Gaia theory, of course.

It seems that the unlikely protagonist of Modern Science will eventually uncover the very real and startling truth that the entire human species is actually embedded within a greater form of consciousness-- known to us as the Earth and its biosphere. And this biosphere shall be considered an entity in exactly the same way that any of us humans are considered "separate" entities. Surely its "thoughts" and behavior will always remain somewhat of a mystery to us, but since the human species would be an integral component of the Gaian mind, we would likely find Gaia to strangely be a mirror of ourselves in many ways.

Now contemporary science will possibly argue that what makes a brain become conscious is the quantum interactions occurring within the human cortex. The brain can be seen as an incredible quantum processing device, and this quantum aspect is the magic that somehow generates consciousness and free will. However I would argue (given my admittedly rudimentary knowledge of quantum physics...) that these "quantum components", whatever they may be, are not only to be found at the cellular level between neural synapses.

Quantum events are characterized by a sense of "choice" which is instigated by an observer. A stream of photons that strike a slit in a screen can either manifest as waves or particles, depending on the type of measuring apparatus the observer employs. There seems to be a fuzziness --with the potential for choosing-- embedded within the tiniest molecular events.

This choosing weirdness associated with QM events (the collapse of the wave function) is essentially a type of free will. At a fundamental, binary level a QM event must make up its mind, so to speak: wave or particle. But this phenomenon of choice is equally evident at the macroscopic level. It manifests as the interaction of autonomous, individual animals and plants, interacting within communities. As billions of ants hunt for food along the forest floor, trillions of simple decisions are being made every moment. Trillions of "wave form collapses" are occurring-- but here the "waveform" in question is not just a simple wave/particle photon event... a typical event would more closely resemble, "Shall I bring this piece of food back to the nest, or not?" Even a simple ant can make a rudimentary decision and thus collapse the probability wave of all potential futures. Locally, this is not a very big deal; after all, the decision of a single ant is hardly an event to be compared to human consciousness. But then again, a single brain neuron firing inside of my head could hardly be considered consciousness also-- its only one tiny neuron. However when ALL the ants or neurons begin making decisions in concert, with all of their astounding complexity, a conscious mind begins to incrementally form. I suppose the Gaian mind would "think" over much larger time scales than the electrochemically wired human brain. This could explain why most of the arrogant humans populations on the planet haven't detected the presence of Gaia yet.

And finally, if one pursues the biological foundation of mind further, you arrive at the observation that the human mind exhibits non-local properties. It seems that the human brain taps into some overarching realm or meta-reality that encompasses all events throughout all time. As research into fields such as telepathy and precognition become more credible, this point will seem more obvious. Quantum mechanics has blown the lid off of classical, Newtonian thinking with experiments that demonstrate the non-local connectedness of the universe. The human brain may in fact be an access valve into the connectedness of all things. If this is the case, then the theory of Gaia becomes even more interesting, because that would mean that both humans and the Gaian mind share a certain degree of their conscious being. If consciousness is partly non-local, then Gaia could access a human mind, and a human mind could also interface with Gaia.

This could explain the interaction of certain entheogenic chemicals on the human brain. When a chemical such as psilocybin is introduced into a human brain, the firing pattern of the brain changes in a global, fairly nonspecific, manner. (Nonspecific meant in the sense that entire regions of the brain can be affected in a very "receptor-binding on/off" fashion). The thinking patterns of the human brain with psilocybin often become oriented with Mother Nature, demonstrating very Gaian themes. Psilocybin could be the catalyst that reorganizes the human brain to contact the Gaian level of consciousness. This may seem far fetched to some, but it is a reasonable conclusion given the previous line of reasoning, and also given the assumed experience of the reader with psilocybin. If a person has never experienced first hand the psilocybin mind-state, the preceding logic would seem incomplete. Of course the fact that a humble mushroom can occasion this experience is likely just coincidence... it is for the same "reason" that catnip makes felines go wild. During the evolution of life on Earth, it just worked out that certain plants act as mind catalysts. The psilocybin in the mushroom, or the chemicals from any psychoactive plant, act as a reaction catalyst to enhance some of the non-local and information processing properties of the brain. I could continue with the idea that the mushroom itself, as the consistent generator of such conscious states over thousands of years, has rightfully attained a conscious identity of its own... but that is another topic entirely.

Now a conscious mind, by whatever means it comes into being, is a method for Reality to better make decisions. For example, a human has many more life options than a tiger does. So the universe seems hardwired to feedback upon itself in an increasing spiral of complexity, leading to "more" conscious forms that can more effectively make choices from a greater variety of possible futures. It is a continuum-- from electrons to people. Given these observations the possibility of a conscious Planet Earth, of which we are all a part of, seems quite reasonable.