About Consciousness - Quareness Series 228th "Lecture".
I understand that neuroscience today predominantly regards consciousness as an emergent property of the brain's neural activity. Although this view is supported by evidence linking our subjective experience to specific neural correlates (e.g. synchronised oscillations in the cerebral cortex) the precise nature of consciousness nevertheless remains elusive...prompting speculation about whether it could transcend mere computation. And because its subjective essence resists objective quantification, such uncertainty complicates efforts to measure consciousness empirically (aka "the hard problem of consciousness"). Some perspectives, for example, might propose consciousness to be a fundamental feature of the universe (somewhat akin to mass or energy) existing independently and accessed by the brain rather than generated by it. Others might propose a computational model likening consciousness to a kind of software-driven function emerging from and dependent upon the brain's hardware. I gather there's even an "objective reduction theory" that posits consciousness as a product of quantum processes inside neurons themselves, rather than being the product of neural connections...
that the connection between the human brain and quantum biology might lie in how quantum processes (like superposition or entanglement) could influence neural computation or consciousness at a microscopic level.
Whatever the case, we can reasonably surmise that brain biology is amazingly complex with trillions of neurons, synaptic plasticity, chaotic feedback loops and emergent patterns that defy simple models. Synchronisation may be central here e.g. like the way a flock of birds moves as one despite none of them computing the whole, somehow suggesting that consciousness could be an emergent phenomenon from chaos requiring no quantum magic. It's obvious that the brain has chemical gradients, electrical waves and timing precision to rival any machine, not to mention mirror neurons or how psychedelics flip perception...all of which is suggestive of the plausibility of sheer biological strangeness (amplified by evolution) being the source of our conscious awareness. Could it be already inbuilt in us that nature wants us to see things as they really are (without any need of quantum effects)? Does human life inherently involve using energy to defy entropy ("collapsing into order") and create something emergent, like awareness?
With all of the brain's active parts - neurons firing, chemicals sloshing, electrical impulses zipping around - syncing in patterns like waves crashing in rhythm, our consciousness might be less like a random effect erupting from biological chaos and more like a melody harmonising when the brain's orchestra coalesces into a unified rhythm. And with the patterns showing up as neural oscillations such as alpha, beta, gamma waves - measurable rhythms that shift with focus or sleep or even meditation. Such "tuned harmony" could mean that consciousness is not just grounded in the chaos of complex biology or the simple pile-up of connections, but instead be what happens when these connections hit upon the right resonance . With 86 billion neurons and trillions of synapses, consciousness might kick in when they vibrate in sync...forming a harmonic field?
For some researchers exploring electromagnetic field theories of consciousness, the brain's electrical activity is regarded as generating fields that are not just by-products but part of our awareness. And some such posit that these fields integrate information across neurons, giving that unified "I" feeling...a tuned field with added harmonic resonance...like being awake to myself on receiving a perfect pitched signal (or indeed unconscious if there's too much chaos/static). Perhaps if consciousness needs this resonance we might wonder if it could tap into some universal frequency. With tuned harmony the brain might act like an instrument with chaos providing the raw material and complexity stringing it all together. And could the harmonic sweet spot of the resonant synchronised fields be making consciousness sing?
Taking a guitar and plucking a string
Gives just a twang - nothing special,
But tuning it to amplify resonance
Forms harmony vibrating in sync.
Our consciousness too can resonate
Tapping into some universal frequency,
A harmonic field of integrated neurons
Connecting via awakening awareness.
And such tuned harmony could see
The brain acting as divine instrument,
With chaos providing the raw material
And complexity stringing it all together
To make our consciousness sing.
Sean.
Dean of Quareness.
October, 2025.