Mind, Mathematics and Physical World

Roger Penrose in his very interesting book, The Large, the Small and Human Mind, questions the idea that the mind is a product of physical world. Rather he suggests that the mind and physical world influence each other. He also mentions "Mathematics is product of human mind." (Reference 5-p 96)

The creation of that part of mathematics, which deals with actual physical entities, can be materialistically explained. Human race facing the material objects created mathematics to facilitate his interaction with the surroundings. But if our mind developed a mathematics, which goes beyond objective physical world, and if a part of that math can foresee and guide us to unknown territories, like quantum mechanics, can we conclude that mind has its own entity separate from the body, which is accommodating it?

Long before introducing quantum mechanics or plank distance, point was defined as an entity, which does not have any dimension. By experience, we should have described it as smallest point that a piece of charcoal can create in a stone. But somebody's mind explored deeper in darkness where our every day experience could not reach. Now we know that the smallest possible size in space is plank distance 10-33. Beyond that we are exposed to geometrical point with no dimension and no size.

Minus numbers era does not have any objective meaning in macrocosm. But in 15th century, mathematician had to add it to mathematic field to be able to complete their calculations. Without looking to new era they could not close the field. Positive numbers were not enough to contain the whole mathematical calculations.

May be at that time mathematics was not considered as the basic foundation of reality. But today we have much more evidence to take mathematics as the basic framework of reality.

Long before creation of quantum mechanics, mathematical calculation led Nicolas Chuquet an Italian mathematician to square root of -1.75 in 1484. Of course he disregarded that portion of his calculation as meaningless with no reality. But this portion appeared and reappeared in future calculations of others. The mathematical field again appeared not to be complete and seemed open.

Square root of minus numbers could not be described in mathematical field of the time. Addition of a new subdivision was needed to create a complete and closed mathematical field. Gottfried Leibniz and others decided to add imaginary numbers to real numbers as a solution. But this imaginary numbers were generally considered unreal and impossible. Even Jerome Cardan who first had to use these numbers to create a formula considered them as meaningless, fictitious and imaginary.

Is this sound familiar? Space-time singularities are also considered meaningless and impossible. How about riddle of infinities in mathematical calculations?

"For Leibniz, imaginary numbers where a fine and wonderful refuge of the divine spirit. Almost an amphibian between being and non-being ... ." 14 p97

Mind you that imaginary numbers are not countable. They do not have direct, measurable effect in our physical world. As such they are not finite. So they do not belong to space-time universe.

Then, in twentieth century when our understanding of reality got extended by looking at subatomic particles, we had to use square root of minus numbers to explain quantum behavior. All of the sudden, there was a use for imaginary numbers and it proved to be the framework for part of the reality.

Stephen Hawking says, "It turns out that a mathematical model involving imaginary time predicts not only effects we have already observed but also effects we have not been able to measure yet nevertheless believe in for other reasons." 6-p59

As a matter of fact, we are using complex numbers, which are a combination of real numbers and imaginary numbers to present a model for subatomic fields. Later on I will mention how wave particle and quantum leap and quantum tunneling and other quantum behaviors lead us to believe that quantum particles are appearing and disappearing from our space-time universe. And as such they alternate between positive integer and imaginary integer fields.

In fact mathematical calculations are ahead of us and are guiding us in understanding the deeper understanding of physical world. What created this mathematics?

"Non-computability in some aspects of consciousness and, specifically, in mathematical understanding, strongly suggests that non-computability should be a feature of all consciousness" Roger Penrose (Reference 5- p117)

If main component of our physical world like space, time and matter all have unbreakable basic units and beyond those limits they do not have any meaning, and so they are computable. And if mathematics is leading us to a non-computable entity as well, we should open our mind to a non-computable domain. If this leads us to duality, so be it. But mathematics is a whole system so should be the reality. We have to look for that part of reality which is a represented by negative and imaginary numbers.

Roger Penrose also wonders: "How one goes from computable discrete system (physical world) to a continuous system (mind)" (Reference 5- p102) And about theory of everything he advises; ...there could easily be a non-computational nature in the correct theory, if we ever find it." 5-p123". And further, "If there indeed exists some sort of contact with Platonic absolutes which our awareness enable us to achieve, and which can not be explained in terms of computational behavior, then that seems to me to be an important issue" 5- p125

Summary

I tried to explain how actual space, time and matter does not exist in our mind. What we have in our consciousness of such notions are just an image of them. Also I showed how mind is source of energy and information. As such our mind mimics the characteristics of proposed singularity and we may assume that it is extension of the singularity. The inter-connection between mind and macrocosm is our everyday experience. I also mentioned the numerous studies which reveals close connection between mind and quantum mechanics.

I also tried to show that mathematics are more progressive and we cannot explain it by just being the product of interaction between mind and physical world. In so many instances it is more advanced than our experiences and as the mater of fact physicists are following mathematics to offer theories and explain physical phenomena. So I concluded that mathematics emerge from our deeper consciousness.

The objectives of this text is to introduce mind as a separate entity and to emphasize that studying and exploring its connections with macrocosm and microcosm is essential part of studying reality.

References

5 -The Large, the Small and the Human Mind, Roger Penrose et al, Cambridge University Press, 1955

6 - The Universe in a Nutshell, Stephen Hawking, 2001, Bantam Books

8 - The Physics of Consciousness, Evan Harris Walker, 2000, Perseus Publishing

9 - The No locality of Mind, Chris Clarke, Tue Feb 4 16:22:05 GMT 1997

14 - Quantum Mind, Arnold Mindell, Lao Tse Press, 2000

19 - http://www.acsa2000.net/bcngroup/jponkp/ - See Chapter 1.

© Copyright Jeff Prideaux along with electronic copy right ACSA and The BCN Group. All Rights Reserved. Posted by permission of the author.

20 - http://www.merkabaweb.net/holo2.htm

44 - content.karger.com

45 - http://www.intuition.org/txt/pribram.htm

Please enter your comments and input in message board

by Mohsen Kermanshahi

To review the whole theory please check www.universaltheory.org

© Copyright 2004. All rights reserved.