Energy Flow and Consciousness: Information Theory and Panpsychism

in their relationships with information see Appendix. ⁴²Rolf Landauer. 1961. Irreversibility and heat generation in the computing process. IBM journal of research and development, 5(3):183–191. The information that is measured here in bits and indicated by the quantity $b$.⁴³ It is important to note how, at the current state, Landauer's principle has been verified as valid in all experimental conditions to which it has been applied.⁴⁴ By taking the temporal derivative of the relationship between energy and information expressed by Landauer, assuming for our purposes the environment temperature constant, i.e. $dT/dt = 0$, we have: $$\frac{dE}{dt} = kT \ln(2) \frac{db}{dt}$$ (2) that is, an information flow and therefore also a taking of consciousness, requires an energy variation or flow. Alternatively, and more significantly, we can think of an energy flow or flowing as the dynamic result of a consciousness. In summary: The energy flow derives from a consciousness. ⁴³For a definition of the concept of information and its measurement see the Appendix. ⁴⁴Bérut, A.; Arakelyan, A.; Petrosyan, A.; Ciliberto, S.; Dillenschneider, R.; Lutz, E. 2012. Experimental verification of Landauer's principle linking information and thermodynamics, Nature 483, 187–189. Jun, Y.; Bechhoefer, J.; Gavrilov, M. 2014. High-precision test of Landauer's principle in a feedback trap. Physical Review Letters 113(19), 190601. Scientific hypothesis of panpsychism The fact of reality that no one can deny and from which everyone must start is that of their own existence and, consequently, of their own consciousness. Starting from this undeniable point, noting the existence of one's own life, it is necessary to admit that at least one among all the possible philosophical theories that explain its origin must be true. Perception and comprehension Every conscious phenomenon starts from a sensation which is then translated into a perception which produces an impression and which is finally associated with a comprehension. The senses, exterior or interior, material or spiritual, send messages to consciousness through sensations. When consciousness welcomes these sensations we have perception, that is the passage from a pure sensorial activity to a psychic activity. The result of psychic perception is an impression resulting from the consciousness's re-elaboration of the perceived signal. To this impression can be associated a comprehension of the perceived phenomenon, which is in itself a reunion and assimilation of the essence of the phenomenon. To illustrate these phases more in detail, we propose the observation of a concrete phenomenon such as that of an apple falling from a tree on a hill at sunset. In this case the photons emitted by the sun at sunset, together with those reflected by the tree and the falling apple reach the cones and rods in the observer's eye. The cells in the eye perform a first transformation from electromagnetic or luminous radiation into electrical impulses that will be sorted to the vision centers. The sensorial process is a process mainly of physical character and only indirectly connected with consciousness. In the case of a withdrawal of consciousness for example by means of an abstraction process or selective attention, the physical sensorial process is only slightly inhibited and attenuated, however it does not reach the state of perception. When sensorial stimuli are translated into psychic stimuli and received by the psyche we have perception. Perception relies on models resulting from an innate baggage and long sensorial education. Indeed, continuing in our example, the visual perception we have of the falling apple is not that of random spots, but that of the same body in movement. So, even before understanding what we are seeing, the psychic signal has been processed according to a precise code that in many aspects is innate in the observer. In this context it is necessary to note that man translates the brain impulses coming from the senses which are essentially electrical in nature into psychic perceptions qualitatively very distinct from each other such as sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Technically these qualities are the qualia that we define as internal dimensions of consciousness. Qualia are associated with both interior and exterior senses, but are not the senses. A table is hard even in a dream. In the dream state the individual sees with closed eyes.⁴⁵ His capacity to see, smell, taste, etc. depends only on consciousness which in awakening states acquires other interior or spiritual dimensions. From here develops the taste for divine things, the sense of the sacred, the sense of truth, etc. New qualities to which the soul becomes sensitive, new interior dimensions that develop and bloom thanks to the work of awakening the so-called spiritual senses. Every perception brings an impression on the psyche, but not necessarily on the conscious part of the psyche. Every act of consciousness is also an act of knowledge and linked to a form, albeit elementary, of comprehension. The dark and bright spots perceived are then understood by consciousness as a tree at sunset from which a fruit falls. If the observer is equipped with botanical knowledge he will be able to recognize an apple tree; if he is equipped with astronomical knowledge he will be able to know the indicative time at which the phenomenon occurs, etc. The comprehension of surrounding reality is founded on representation models that the observer possesses and which are the object of his intellectual evolution. Unlike the other processes, the comprehension process has such a close relationship with consciousness that it is in effect self-feeding: the comprehension of a phenomenon allows having greater consciousness of it, which produces greater intelligence and knowledge of the phenomenon itself. ⁴⁵It has been observed that even subjects with congenital blindness can have dreams with visual content. cfr. Bértolo H, Paiva T, Pessoa L, Mestre T, Marques R, Santos R. Visual dream content, graphical representation and EEG alpha activity in congenitally blind subjects. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2003 Feb;15(3):277-84. ⁴⁶Palamidessi, T. Tecniche di risveglio iniziatico. Edizioni Mediterranee. 1975.