The Conscious Pilot

1
The Conscious Pilot Consciousness in
synchronized mobile input layers in the brains
neuronal networks Stuart Hameroff
M.D. Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology
Director, Center for Consciousness Studies The
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona www.quant
umconsciousness.org www.consciousness.arizona.edu
www.consciousness.arizona.edu/tucson2008
2
(No Transcript)
3

• Most brain activity relates to processes
  conducted
• in either non-conscious or conscious modes
• Sensory processing
• Control of behavior
• Learning
• Memory
• Attention
• Sleep
• can all be either conscious or non-conscious
• what is the
  distinction?

4

• Distinctions between non-conscious vs conscious
  processes
• Non-conscious/
  
• Unconscious
  Conscious
• Chalmers Easy problems Hard
  problem
• Crick/Koch Zombie modes
  Consciousness
• Block (?) Access Cs.
  Phenomenal Cs.
• Hodgson Auto-pilot
  Consciousness

5

• Non-conscious/Unconscious
  Processes
• Chalmers Easy problems
• Crick/Koch Zombie modes
• Block Access Consciousness
  
• Hodgson Auto-pilot
  
• These can be accounted for by neuronal network
  computation based on axonal-dendritic
  feed-forward and feed-back networks

6

• Non-conscious/Unconscious
  Processes
• Chalmers Easy problems
• Crick/Koch Zombie modes
• Block Access Consciousness
  
• Hodgson Auto-pilot
  
• These can be accounted for by neuronal network
  computation based on axonal-dendritic
  feed-forward and feed-back networks
• but then consciousness is able to tune in
• .and take over

7

• Distinctions between non-conscious vs conscious
  processes
• Non-conscious/
  
• Unconscious
  Conscious
• Chalmers Easy problems Hard
  problem
• Crick/Koch Zombie modes
  Consciousness
• Block (?) Access Cs.
  Phenomenal Cs.
• Hodgson Auto-pilot
  Consciousness
• SH Auto-pilot
  Conscious pilot
• Synchronized mobile input layers
• operating in the brains neuronal
  networks

8
The world appears before us

Steve Lehar
9
But the world is a conscious
representation in our head
BING!!!
10

If our perceived world is entirely within our
head, how do we know it is real and
accurate? (e.g. The Matrix)


Rene Descartes (1677) realized he could be
certain of only this I
think, therefore I am
11
The Cartesian Theater
12
But who is the audience, the
observer?
13
Descartes believed an immaterial soul
perceived the world in our head
14
Cartesian Dualism Cognitive Closure, Mysterianism
Mind
Matter

15
Processing in visual consciousness optic
nerve/thalamus/posterior cortex
Then forward jump to prefrontal
cortex Consciousness then occurs
BING!!!

This is
bottom-up processing.
Prefrontal to posterior Top-down also occurs
16

BING!!!
17
Consciousness with attention involves
activity in both prefrontal and posterior
regions
18
(No Transcript)
19
Computer Architecture
CPU
20
BING!!!
CPU
21


Top/Up
(Frontal cortex)

BING!!!
Down/Bottom
(Thalamus Posterior cortex)
22

Top
(Frontal cortex)

Intermediate
BING!!! (Jackendoff,
Gray)
Handshake
Bottom
(Thalamus Posterior cortex)
23


Top (Frontal
cortex)
BING!!!
BING!!!
BING!!!
BING!!! BING!!!
BING!!!
BING!!! BING!!!
Bottom Thalamus
Posterior cortex)
24

But sensations of pure color arise from
isolated activity in visual cortex color
area V4 (Zeki)
BING!!!

25
Deeper emotional feelings occur
in emotional core BING!!!
Dopaminergic paths in VTA/nucleus
accumbens cingulate/limbic emotional core So
some process/activity is specific for
consciousness
26
Homunculus Body maps for
sensation and muscle control are
embedded in cortex, proportioned
according to degree of sensitivity or fine motor
control
27
(No Transcript)
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
THE BRAINS
33
Memory and conscious content are
distributed throughout the cortex.
(Holographic Pribram)
34
Consciousness can occur with global/distributed,
regional, or local neuronal brain activity, i.e.
consciousness can be here,
there or everywhere What specific type of
neuronal activity correlates with consciousness?
35
Ramon-y-Cajal brain composed of individual
cells neurons
36
(No Transcript)
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
(No Transcript)
40
(No Transcript)
41
The Hodgkin-Huxley neuron
Hodgkin-Huxley (H-H) equations in 1952
related membrane potential to ionic
currents moving through the
membrane, and accounts for nonlinear triggering
of action potential spikes - firings
42
www.genesis-sim.org/GENESIS/cnslecs/cns2a.html
43
McCulloch and Pitts (1943) Model
Neuron A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent
in Nervous Activity
44
                                               
                 
Hebbian weighting of connection
strengths in
McCulloch-Pitts neuron led to the
Perceptron (Rosenblatt, 1962)
45
Artificial neural networks
46
Artificial neural network
Feed-forward biological neuronal network

47
Materialism Representationalism/ Computationalism/
A.I. BrainMindComputer Emergence/Singularity
Mind
Matter
Adapted from H
Atmanspacher
48



The
Singularity Computers will
reach/surpass human brain
computational capacity based on extrapolation
of Moores Law. Human brain functions
including
consciousness will occur in computers.
Ignoring consciousness BING!!! for the moment
What is human brain computational
capacity? AI assumptions based on
neuronal firings and synaptic
transmissions neurocomputation as
fundamental operations (e.g.
Moravec, Kurzweil) 1011
neurons/brain x 103 synapses per neuron
x 102 firings/neuron/second
1016 operations per second
49

• Problems with Neurocomputation/Singularity
  Concept
• Assumes consciousness is an output of neuronal
  computation in feed-forward and feedback networks
• (requiring consciousness to be epiphenomenal
  and illusory - arguable)
• Assumes neuronal firings or synaptic
  transmissions
• are the fundamental information states or
  bits
• Considering microtubule-level processing,
  brain computational capacity roughly 12 orders of
  magnitude greater than Singularity assumption)

50
(But single cell organisms like paramecium swim,
learn, find mates and have sex
without any synapses using their microtubules
51
(No Transcript)
52
Sensory cilia (e.g. in retina)
are sensitive to light/photons
53
(No Transcript)
54
(No Transcript)
55
(No Transcript)
56
(No Transcript)
57
(No Transcript)
58
(No Transcript)
59
Nancy Woolf
60
(No Transcript)
61
(No Transcript)
62

• Computational Capacity of the Human Brain at the
  
• Level of Microtubule Subunit
  Conformational States
• Brain neurons each have 108 microtubule
  subunits
• switching states in nanoseconds (109
  per second)
• Information processing capacity for each
  neuron is
• 1017 operations per second per
  neuron
• Brain computational capacity in microtubules
  is then
• 1017 x 1011 1028 operations per
  second

63

• Problems with Neurocomputation/Singularity
  Concept
• Assumes consciousness is an output of neuronal
  computation in feed-forward and feedback networks
  (requiring consciousness to be epiphenomenal and
  illusory - arguable)
• Assumes neuronal firings or synaptic
  transmissions are fundamental information states
  or bits (But single cell organisms like
  paramecium can swim, learn, avoid obstacles and
  predators, find food and mates and have sex
  without any synapses! using their microtubules)
• 3) Brain neuronal behavior deviates from
  Hodgkin-Huxley.
• a) Ion channels appear to require non-local
  (quantum)
• correlations for spike firing,
• b) an x-factor affects spike threshold

64

Naundorf et al, Nature 2007
65

• Problems with Neurocomputation/Singularity
  Concept
• Assumes consciousness is an output of neuronal
  computation in feed-forward and feedback networks
  (requiring consciousness to be epiphenomenal and
  illusory - arguable)
• Assumes neuronal firings or synaptic
  transmissions are fundamental information states
  or bits (But single cell organisms like
  paramecium can swim, learn, avoid obstacles and
  predators, find food and mates and have sex
  without any synapses! using their microtubules)
• 3) Brain neuronal behavior deviates from
  Hodgkin-Huxley. Ion channels appear to require
  non-local (quantum) correlations for spike
  firing, and an x-factor affects spike threshold
  
• 4) Gamma synchrony EEG, the best measurable
  correlate
• of consciousness, is not related to axonal
  firings or spikes.(mediated through coherent
  activities
• in gap junction-connected dendrites
  hyper-neurons, dendritic webs)

66
EEG frequency bands Delta (lt 4 Hz) Theta (4 to 8
Hz) Alpha (8 to 12 Hz) Beta (13 to 30 Hz) Gamma
(gt 30 Hz) Gamma synchrony (coherent 40 Hz)
correlates with consciousness
67
(No Transcript)
68
discussion of eeg coherence resultsfft high beta
high gamma coherence (25- 50 Hz)3 common
coherence P4 connections to F4, C4, Cz frank
echenhofer wed. july 25, 2007 2 - 4 pm
concurrent session 5.3 altered states of
consciousness
Beta 12-25 HZ
eyes closed ayahuasca compared to baseline n
12 group paired t-test (plt .01)
blue decrease with ayahuasca,
red increase with auahuasca
High Beta 25-30 HZ Gamma 1 30-35 HZ
Gamma 2 35-40 HZ High Gamma 40-50 HZ
69
Pablo Amaringos painting from Ayahuasca
Visions The religious iconography of a
Peruvian Shaman (Luna Amaringo, 1999). Such
visions correlate with highly coherent gamma
synchrony EEG
70
(No Transcript)
71
(No Transcript)
72
(No Transcript)
73
Neuronal networks linked by gap
junctions (hyper-neurons,
dendritic webs) depolarize coherently in gamma
synchrony
Dendritic post-synaptic potentials are
synchronized, not
axonal spikes
74
BING
BING
BING
BING
75
Hyper-neurons/dendritic
webs are embedded in
feed-forward and feedback neuronal networks


allowing collective, synchronized integration
phases in
laterally-connected input/integration layers
76
BING BING
BING


77
In the brain..
Transient webs of dendritic-dendritic gap
junction-connected neurons (and glia) extend
widely through cortex, mediate
gamma synchrony
78
(No Transcript)
79
(No Transcript)
80
(No Transcript)
81
(No Transcript)
82
(No Transcript)
83
(No Transcript)
84
Synchrony
85
(No Transcript)
86


87
The Halle Berry neuron
BING!!!
88
BING!!!
BING!!!
FIRE
BING!!!
89
BING!!! BING!!!
BING!!!
BING!!! BING!!!
BING!!!
FIRE
BING!!! BING!!!
BING!!!
90
Imagine an airplane cruising on auto-pilot. The
pilot is present but reading, talking with the
flight attendant, or perhaps sleeping/dreaming. S
uddenly an alarm sounds, or there is turbulence.
The pilot becomes conscious of the cockpit scene
and data, assumes control and corrects the
problem. He/she then returns monitoring and
control to the auto-pilot, and resumes reading or
whatever. We often interact non-consciously/on
auto-pilot with the world, intermittently
assuming conscious control of our actions.
91
Conscious pilot
model Auto-pilot nonconscious monitoring/control
are the work of axonal-dendritic feed-forward and
feed-back neuronal computational networks.
Operating in those networks are largely
unnoticed synchronized brain anatomical
organizations based on dendritic-dendritic gap
junction connections oriented lateral/orthogonal
(sideways) to the axonal-dendritic flow of
neurocomputational information. Moving here,
there and everywhere within the brain, dendritic
webs are ideally situated for conscious
perception and control of behavior.