[Fis] Material foundations of the General Information Theory (GIT)

[Krassimir Markov]

Dear colleagues,

The discussion last weeks once again took us back to the time of the Holy
Inquisition. I will recall that then the majority of leading specialists,
in full consciousness and common sense, in total consensus, decided and ...
burned Giordano Bruno at the stake.

Great ideas are always born as mental models in the mind of a single
person, after which it takes time to build similar mental models in other
people. Therefore, the statement that someone is right just because many
people think like him is extremely harmful to science!


Let me also note that as a professional mathematician, I do not perceive
probabilities in the role of a pumpkin scarecrow for the uninitiated. For
many years I have taught the subject “Probability and Statistics” and my
first lecture always begins with the words “Probabilities in reality do not
exist and you cannot see “the probability on a white horse at sunset!”
Probabilities are our subjective mental models that we use when making
decisions. The space of states is not in reality, but is a mental model
that can be externalized through different languages - formulas, graphs,
etc. "


I will continue with the main topic of the weeks - immaterial. That is,
that which cannot be reflected in our sensors, and cannot be localized and
measured. In order to be able to think about it, we need to believe that
the non-existent, that is, the immaterial, exists. And therefore, we move
on to religious thinking and leave the sphere of science.

You know well my principle that problems related to faith should not be
discussed.

Faith should be believed, not discussed!

Therefore, the discussion of the immaterial is completely meaningless from
a scientific point of view. Moreover, I wish that the FIS-list would not be
a religious temple for preaching subjective, experimentally unverifiable
mental models.


Someone may oppose me citing the book "The Conscious Mind: In Search of a
Fundamental Theory" by David Chalmers.

"The Conscious Mind" is one of the most influential books in the philosophy
of consciousness. It has sparked many debates and inspired much research in
this field.

I will summarize it briefly for those who are not familiar with it.

Chalmers argues that consciousness is a fundamental problem for science and
philosophy, one that cannot be explained by the traditional methods of
physicalism (the idea that everything can be reduced to physical
processes). He introduces the "hard problem of consciousness," which
concerns the question of how physical processes in the brain give rise to
subjective experience (qualia).

Key Concepts:

― *The Hard Problem of Consciousness*: This is the question of how and why
we have subjective experiences. Why is there "something it is like" to be
anything? Why do we have feelings of redness, pain, or love? Chalmers
contrasts this problem with the "easy problems" of consciousness, which
concern explaining cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and
language.

― *Qualia*: This is a term that refers to the subjective quality of
conscious experience. For example, the "redness" of red or the "pain" of
pain. Chalmers argues that qualia cannot be explained by physical processes.

― *Physicalism and Its Limitations*: Chalmers criticizes physicalism,
arguing that it cannot explain consciousness. He proposes alternative
theories, including dualism and panpsychism.

― *Dualism*: This is the idea that consciousness is a separate entity from
the physical world. Chalmers proposes a form of "naturalistic dualism" that
attempts to integrate dualism with scientific knowledge of the brain.

― *Panpsychism*: This is the idea that consciousness is a fundamental
property of the universe and that all physical systems have some form of
consciousness.


*Chalmers proposes that consciousness should be considered a fundamental
property of the universe, similar to space, time, and mass.*

Such beliefs are very strong suggestions that are naively perceived as
scientific truth.


To allow you to compare with the current achievements of brain science, I
will conclude with a brief note on the material foundations of the brain
and its activities, focusing on the scientific results of Rodolfo R. Llinás
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Llin**As__;w6E!!D9dNQwwGXtA!T3xaYvde_wjDY_As8qho6plC6m6e4cekbNOnnqhCVe2hYAVEHC-n5C5nY5OKfafV1hs1kN2EpqvBgpnI72Q$ ).

The neuroscientist Rodolfo R. Llinás is a founding father of modern brain
science.

Rodolfo R. Llinás has carried out detailed and elegant studies of the
electrophysiology of the vertebrate cerebellum. In mammalian neurons, he
discovered dendrite calcium spikes, dendritic inhibition, electronic
coupling, and subthreshold oscillations. At the squid giant synapse, he
demonstrated presynaptic calcium current. He studied the electrophysiology
of thalamocortical networks in brain slices and related his findings to his
pioneering work with humans using magnetoencephalography (MEG). He has also
drawn on his physiological findings to propose the possible commonalities
among certain neurological and psychiatric disorders. His passion for the
study of the nervous system made him publish over 800 scientific articles.

In his book, “Llinás, R. R. (2001). *I of the vortex: From neurons to
self.* MIT
Press”, the author presents the evolution and nature of mind.

According to the author, the "mindness" state evolved to allow predictive
interactions between mobile creatures and their environment. Llinás
illustrates the early evolution of the mind through a primitive animal
called the sea squirt. This example suggests that the nervous system
evolved to allow active movement in animals. To move through the
environment safely, a creature must anticipate the outcome of each movement
on the basis of incoming sensory data.

Thus, the capacity to predict is most likely the ultimate brain function.
One could even say that Self is the centralization of prediction.

At the heart of Llinás's theory is the concept of oscillation.

Many neurons possess electrical activity, manifested as oscillating
variations in the minute voltages across the cell membrane. On the crests
of these oscillations occur larger electrical events that are the basis for
neuron-to-neuron communications.


*A group of neurons oscillating in phase can resonate with a distant group
of neurons.*

*This simultaneity of neuronal activity is the neurobiological root of
cognition.*

*Although the mind is guided by the senses, it is also generated by the
oscillations within the brain. *


With respect,

Krassimir
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