A researcher at the English University of Surrey brings to light a new theory as to what our consciousness is and how a deep understanding of this can lead to the development of more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI). His findings appeared in the journal Neuroscience & Consciousness.
In the past, theories as to what consciousness is have yielded purported explanations with no scientific basis. The new finding points to matter and energy, in an attempt to explain consciousness in the human brain.
As identified by brain imaging scans, like electroencephalography or magnetoencephalography, the researcher suggests that consciousness is actually the brain’s electromagnetic (EM) field, aiding in free will and voluntary actions.
“I describe the conscious electromagnetic information (cemi) field theory which has proposed that consciousness is physically integrated, and causally active, information encoded in the brain’s global electromagnetic field,” the researcher stated in a news release.
“I here extend the theory to argue that consciousness implements algorithms in space, rather than time, within the brain’s EM field. I describe how the cemi field theory accounts for most observed features of consciousness and describe recent experimental support for the theory,” the researcher explained.
“I also describe several untested predictions of the theory and discuss its implications for the design of artificial consciousness.”
“I believe this mystery has now been solved, and that consciousness is the experience of nerves plugging into the brain’s self-generated electromagnetic field to drive what we call ‘free will’ and our voluntary actions,” the researcher concluded in the news release.
