Consciousness Viewed in the Framework of Brain Phase Space Dynamics, Criticality, and the Renormalization Group (1103.2366v1)

Abstract: To set the stage for viewing Consciousness in terms of brain phase space dynamics and criticality, I will first review currently prominent theoretical conceptualizations and, where appropriate, identify ill-advised and flawed notions in Theoretical Neuroscience that may impede viewing Consciousness as a phenomenon in Physics. I will furthermore introduce relevant facts that tend not to receive adequate attention in much of the current Consciousness discourse. As a new approach to conceptualizing Consciousness, I propose considering it as a collective achievement of the brain' s complex neural dynamics that is amenable to study in the framework of state space dynamics and criticality. In Physics, concepts of phase space transitions and the Renormalization Group are powerful tools for interpreting phenomena involving many scales of length and time in complex systems. The significance of these concepts lies in their accounting for the emergence of different levels of new collective behaviors in complex systems, each level with its distinct ontology, organization and laws, as a new pattern of reality. The presumption of this proposal is that the subjectivity of Consciousness is the epistemic interpretation of a level of reality that originates in phase transitions of the brain-body-environment system.