Zenith Grant Awardee
Ian Durham
Saint Anselm College
Co-Investigators
Johannes Kleiner, Leibniz University of Hanover; Yakov Kremnitzer, University of Oxford; Jonathan Mason, University of Oxford
Project Title
Models of Consciousness: A Conference Series on Formal Approaches to the Mind-Matter Relation
Project Summary
"Consciousness and its place in nature have collectively been one of the great mysteries of humanity and have served as the focus of philosophical and religious investigations for almost two millennia. The subject has generated sustained interest among mathematicians, physicists, and other scholars who aim to translate the results of previous investigations into formal-mathematical models. This interest has been fueled by the observation that many relevant questions, e.g. about the connection between fundamental physics and consciousness, are not amenable to less formal analysis. To date, these researchers have mostly pursued this work in isolation and outside of the academic mainstream. In this proposal, we are aiming to change that. The core of the project is th us the formation of a conference series dedicated to formal models of consciousness with the aim of fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas between these researchers. In addition, this project's long-term goal is to support the emergence of a research area, as part of the mathematics and physics communities, focused on the mind-matter relation and consciousness, making the expertise of these disciplines available to the global search for a scientific understanding of consciousness. "
Technical Abstract
Consciousness and its place in nature have collectively been one of the great mysteries of humanity and have served as the focus of philosophical and religious investigations for almost two millennia. The subject has generated sustained interest among math ematicians, physicists, and others who aim to translate the results of previous investigations into formal-mathematical models. This interest has been fueled by the observation that many relevant questions, e.g. about the connection between fundamental physics and consciousness, are not amenable to less formal analysis. To date, these researchers have mostly pursued this work in isolation and outside of the academic mainstream. In this proposal, we aim to change that. The core of the project is the formation of a conference series dedicated to formal models of consciousness with the aim of fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas between these researchers. An inaugural conference take place at the University of Oxford in September 2019. This project's long-term goal is to support the emergence of a research area, as part of the mathematics and physics communities, focused on the mind-matter relation and consciousness, making the expertise of these disciplines available to t he global search for a scientific understanding of consciousness.
QSpace Latest
PressRelease: Shining a light on the roots of plant “intelligence”
All living organisms emit a low level of light radiation, but the origin and function of these ‘biophotons’ are not yet fully understood. An international team of physicists, funded by the Foundational Questions Institute, FQxI, has proposed a new approach for investigating this phenomenon based on statistical analyses of this emission. Their aim is to test whether biophotons can play a role in the transport of information within and between living organisms, and whether monitoring biophotons could contribute to the development of medical techniques for the early diagnosis of various diseases. Their analyses of the measurements of the faint glow emitted by lentil seeds support models for the emergence of a kind of plant ‘intelligence,’ in which the biophotonic emission carries information and may thus be used by plants as a means to communicate. The team reported this and reviewed the history of biophotons in an article in the journal Applied Sciences in June 2024.