Seeing isn’t believing
Many people will recall a picture from their schooldays of how vision “works” – a 3D image projected onto the eye in 2D and then reconstituted in the brain. Basically, we see accurate representations of objective reality.
But US cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman has spent decades investigating an alternative model, dubbed The Interface Theory in a 2015 paper, which argues what we perceive is more like icons (physical objects) on the desktop of a computer (space-time). The attraction of the theory – that there is a deeper reality – is clear for the spiritual reader.
In the same way that icons enable us to interact with computers without bothering with how they really work, he argues that human perception is a product of evolution maximising “effective foraging” enabling us to pass on our genes to the next generation (“fitness payoffs”). He believes that objective reality consists of conscious agents, like a giant social network, using the visualisation tool to navigate it.
Hoffman and collaborators use evolutionary game theory and Bayesian analysis way above my pay grade as proof – check the above link and a 2020 link here for more detail. But when Hoffman and I spoke for a feature I wrote for the Australian Financial Review about the wider simulation hypothesis (here for paywalled link), he noted that the theory’s mathematics were falsifiable – and thus scientific – but not not been disproved.
In a fascinating Q&A in The Journal of Consciousness Studies last year (he’s also written a book), Hoffman expands on the theory.
Physical space and physical organisms with DNA, he says, are just symbols we use. But a mathematically precise theory of conscious agents must resemble evolution by natural selection when “projected” into the interface. That still gives him the tools of science and empirical limits to work with. (Plus which, the basic rules of the interface are relatively simple to deduce – up to a point – leading to the laws of physics, etc.)
For Hoffman, consciousness is fundamental, as is mathematics. Seeing a circle is a structured experience involving the ratio of its radius to its circumference (pi), for example. “In every experience there is mathematics throughout,” he says, considering it as part of the “bones”, or structure, of consciousness.
In his theory, when conscious agents interact they create new conscious agents, while retaining their own identity, up to infinite-bit conscious agents. “And that’s where we start to get theological because we now have infinite consciousnesses,” he says.
Does that mean there’s one big conscious agent on top of everything? He doesn’t yet know if his “mathematical theology” will be able to answer that, but with further advances it should: “I wonder: how much can you know? How much are you precluded from knowing in principle?”
Hoffman calls himself a “conscious realist”, meaning that the world consists of conscious agents and their experiences – not much different from the idealists who believe that all is mind. And questioning the why of consciousness leads to intriguing territory. He and his team are using Godel’s incompleteness theorem in their model: “In some sense, there’s endless exploration in mathematics. There’s endless novelty. And no matter, even if you’re infinite in your intelligence, there’s endless depth to explore.”
As mathematics is the structure of consciousness, “consciousness intrinsically has infinite novelty and room for exploration”. And when an agent makes a choice, under his theory, it introduces something “brand new” into the history of the universe.
Everything might just be consciousness trying to understand itself.
Spiritual fitness and Alzheimer’s
Anyone who’s lost a loved one to Alzheimer’s or dementia knows how relentlessly cruel and crushing the disease’s progression is.
And pharmacological therapies are as far away as ever. The US FDA last year approved aducanamab for use, which blocks brain beta-amyloid plaque growth, implicated in dementia onset. The decision came despite no clear improvement in cognitive function in trials, 17 to 19 per cent of subjects suffering small bleeds in the brain, and its entire independent advisory committee voting against it. (If the drug is adopted widely, of course, its manufacturers will become wildly rich.)
A 2021 paper, in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 80, introduces a concept called “spiritual fitness”, a multi-layer approach to reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It includes an examination of a simple 12-minute meditation, kirtan kriya (KK), which can lessen the negative effects of chronic stress on cognition, memory loss, and psychological and spiritual wellbeing. (Try it at the below link.)
One of the paper’s authors is Andrew Newberg, the father of neurotheology, which uses neuroscience to examine the relationship between the brain and the spiritual or religious self.
First, they note the “unbridled perpetual stress and turmoil” in the world currently due to pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions, which can produce social isolation, loneliness, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, neuroinflammation, and insomnia – among others – all risk factors for AD onset. Also, early life stress in childhood from trauma, abuse or neglect is a risk factor, leading to inflammation, shorter telomeres (chromosome ends, associated with poor immune system function and accelerated ageing) and other negative biological markers.
KK been shown multiple times to affect stress, increase telomere length and slow cognitive decline, and can be a path to spiritual fitness. The authors cite research into its benefits on anxiety and depression; it increases blood flow to regions involved in cognitive and emotional regulation. They call this “highly significant”, given that reduced blood flow may be associated with the build-up of tau protein – the other marker for AD alongside beta-amyloid. KK also activates the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with mild cognitive impairment when diminished, and other metabolically active areas of the brain prone to neurodegeneration.
In another example of “how did the original yogis know that”, the KK practice of singing and touching the fingers in sequence stimulates the cortical homunculus, which represents how the brain senses and controls the different parts of the body.
But meditation is only a part of spiritual fitness, which includes basic, psychological (PWB) and spiritual wellbeing.
The first of the three includes career, social, financial, physical and community factors. PWB includes acceptance, self-esteem, independence, persistent personal growth, positive relationships with others and a purpose in life (PIL). Finding a PIL “has significant positive health outcomes”, including being more than twice as likely to avoid AD as those who haven’t. “Towards the end of their life,” write the authors, “many people look back and realise that their main purpose was to develop a relationship with the divine aspect of themselves and reconnect with who they really are: their spirit.”
And the final, four factors: patience, self-awareness helping you see yourself and others without judgment, compassion, and surrender. “When you surrender to your soul, you gain the strength to sacrifice and to serve or give to others without thought of reward to yourself. The altruism brings with it a deep and lasting happiness and serenity, which conveys peace of mind, a much-needed brain health and immune system balm.”
Next week: spontaneous spiritual awakenings, and more. Subscribe or share this post to help The Witness Space grow.