Size of Neurorealism Document: Mini Abstract, 101 words; Regular Abstract, 251 words; Total
Document, 16,432 words,
Title: The Triadic
Solution of the Mind-Body Problem:
Origin
and Nature of Consciousness
ã2001
Author: Bruce Eldine Morton, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor
Institutional
Address: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of Hawaii School of
Medicine
Biomedical Building
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
Telephone: (808) 956-8659
Telefax: (808) 956-5339
Email Address: bemorton@hawaii.edu
Home page URL: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~bemorton
Short
Abstract
(101 words):
The Triadic solution of the Mind-Body Problem
clarifies the origin and nature of consciousness. Mind is the coordinated activity of any brain system to optimize
the survival of an organism’s cellular building blocks. Mind is a triadic process because it
only exists when an intact brain structure 1) is coupled over time 2)
to metabolic energy 3). The
Quadrimental Brain of higher organisms can produce four hierarchical elements
of consciousness: sensory awareness, knowledge of time and space,
self-awareness, and awareness of self-awareness (Metamind). Mind enables specialized organisms to pass
their genes to the next generation in the process of life itself.
Longer
Abstract
(252 words):
It has become possible to solve the Mind-Body
Problem and thereby to understand the multiple elements of consciousness. This has been facilitated by the
develop-ment of the following eight conceptual packages: 1) A universe of endless structural strata,
each with unique content, 2) Tetradic reality, 3) Time and energy as fourth and
fifth dimensions of 3-D structural causality, 4) The Triadic nature of
behavior, 5) Homeostasis of cell survival conditions as the source of all
living behavior, 6) The origin and nature of emergent properties, 7) The four
primary thought operations of discovery, 8) The Quadrimental Brain Model
These concepts are sequentially developed and integrated
into the Triadic solution of the Mind-Body Problem and the origin and nature of
consciousness. Briefly stated, mind is
the coordinated activity of any brain system to optimize the survival of an
organism’s cellular building blocks.
Mind is a triadic process because it only exists when 1) an
intact brain structure, 2) is coupled over time
3)
to metabolic energy.
In higher organisms, mind can include four elements
of consciousness: sensory awareness, knowledge of time and space,
self-awareness, and awareness of self-awareness (Metamind). Each are products of the Quadrimental Brain
whose mental functioning enables a specialized organism to pass its genes on to
the next generation in the process of life itself.
Significant and sometimes paradoxical implications
arising from the obligatory relationships of brain, mind, and consciousness in
Triadism are identified. These include
Determinism, Dyadism, and the now-outmoded concepts of Dualism, Reductionism,
Spiritualism, and the Soul.
Key
Words:
cell-survival, emergence, 5D-behavior,
homeostasis, process,
Quadrimental-brain, reality, reasoning, Triadism,
stratified-universe
___________________________________________________________________
The
Triadic Solution of the Mind-Body Problem:
Origin and Nature of Consciousness. ã 2001
1. Introduction
The
ancient unsolved “Mind-Body Problem” and its modern counterpart, the “Origin
and Nature of Consciousness” remain tied to life’s fundamental questions. For millennia, the mind body problem has at
its core been formulated as a choice between the following two rhetorical
questions: 1., Is my mind, my
consciousness, and all of who I am, think, feel, or hope to be, totally and
solely derived from this bodily structure within which I find myself? Or, 2., Are my mental-processes and
consciousness part of a separable, immortal extra-corporeal spirit, briefly
possessing this fleshly abode?
The
non-supernatural answer to the mind-body problem selected the first
alternative. Thus, at first there was
“Native Monism”, the idea that mind was a yet-to-be- discovered structural
element of the body. In contrast,
selection of the second choice was reinforced by early cultures appearing in
the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, and Indus river-deltas. There, the search for the answer to the mind-body problem led to
religious formulations containing the belief of Dualism. That is, the idea that we actually are
immortal spirits, condemned by endless cycles of reincarnation into terrestrial
life forms from which we may escape only by attaining a state of purity.
These
dualistic concepts from Egyptian and Babylonian religion were introduced into
philosophy, and ultimately, into science (via Pherekydes, then Pythagoras, to
Socrates) mainly through the influential writings of Plato (1975). By the time of Plato, Dualism in philosophy
had also became embellished by the concepts of Idealism, where learning was merely
the soul’s recollection of the pure ideals preexisting in the non-material
realm of its spiritual origin. This
very creative, but inaccurate belief system had already held global sway for at
least two thousand years when Descartes (1974), Malebranche (1923), and Leibniz
(1984) again reaffirmed it in the seventeenth century. In the twentieth century, Dualism was
championed by (the late) Sir John Eccles (1977), Nobel laureate; (the late) Sir
Karl Popper (1977), philosopher of science; and Richard Swinburne (1986),
Oxford philosopher of science and religion. The former two arraigned their
Dualism in a more complex manner which they called Trialism (1977).
Yet,
for over at least the last 2,500 years, the first alternative has been the
selection of a number of influential Greek and later philosophers (Anaxagoras,
Diagoras, Protagoras, etc.), as well as of most scientists in recent
centuries. Uttal, in his Psychobiology
of Mind (1978) described a large number of the competing philosophic
solutions to the mind-body problem, all having classical Greek
antecedents. He categorized them under
four general headings: Monisms, Dualisms, Pluralisms, and Rejectors of the
Issue. Uttal appears to have created
the Pluralism category primarily to accommodate Eccles and Popper’s so-called
Trialism.
If
space permitted, resources, such as Priest’s Theories of the Mind
(1991), would be utilized to briefly describe proponents of these philosophical
schools of thought. However, even from
such a historical perspective, it would soon become clear that neither answer
to the two anciently posed questions contains the solution to the Mind-Body
Problem. That is, both Monism and
Dualism are quite inaccurate solutions.
Mind (or consciousness) is not totally and solely dependent upon our
body. Yet, neither is it dependent upon
extra-corporeal spirits. Furthermore,
even if one of these classical alternatives were correct, it still would not
explain the mechanical origin and nature of mind and consciousness that we
confront today. Rather, the solution of
the mind-body problem has required a re-conceptualization. This was initiated by its reformulation into
the five dimensions of behavior. Such a
description could then easily be condensed into a triadic form. That is, unlike Monism and Dualism, Triadism
can directly account for the relationship of mind and body. It also describes the origin and nature of
the multiple elements of consciousness, including the so-called unconscious,
subconscious, and preconscious minds (Morton, 1985a,b).
Accurate
description of mind and consciousness has required the creation of an unusually
broad context within which to account for their origin and nature. This has been facilitated by the development
and integration of eight core conceptual packages presented here: 1) A universe
of endless structural strata, each with unique content, 2) Tetradic reality, 3)
Time and energy as the fourth and fifth dimensions of 3-D structural causality,
4) The Triadic nature of behavior, 5) Homeostasis of cell survival conditions
as the source of all living behavior, 6) The origin and nature of emergent
properties, 7) The four primary thinking operations of discovery, and 8) the
Quadrimental Brain Model. These
concepts will be sequentially described and ultimately integrated into the
Triadic solution of the mind-body problem and the origin and nature of
consciousness. Because of the large
scope of this topic, these elements of Triadism have of necessity been stated
quite compactly in this essay. However,
their meaning and implications become understandable as the process
unfolds. Finally, after the development
of the Triadic Solution, a few of the significant, sometimes paradoxical
implications arising from the obligatory relationships of brain, mind, and consciousness
in Triadism will be identified.
2. Structure of the Universe:
Endless Strata, Each with Unique Content
The
three-dimensional (3-D) structure of the cosmos can be conceived as the
material framework within which a matrix of fundamental order and chaos is
organized. The vast scale of this
structural system is illustrated in Table 1.
More specifically, the universe can be understood as upwardly stratified
in endless levels of increasing structural order, each level of which containing
unique content types. For example,
combinations of the 103 identified different types of stable elements at the
atomic level results in the existence of millions of types of different small
molecules at the next higher, molecular level.
At the level above these small molecules, that of polymers, there are
millions of different types of macromolecules derived from small molecule
building blocks, and on up, ad infinitum.
Table 1.
Human-Centered Infinitude:
Nearby Universe Strata and their Unique Contents
___________________________________________________________________
Infinities: types
Universes: types
Superclusters and Dark Matter: types
Galaxies: types
Solar
Systems: types
Stars and Satellites: types
Planets: types
Continents, Seas, Atmospheres: types
*Animate and Inanimate Nature: types
(* includes human organism)
Solids, Liquids, and
Gases: types
Molecules: types
Atoms-Elements: types
Nuclei, Electrons: types
Protons,
Neutrons, Leptons: types
Quarks-Antiquarks, Gluons, Color: types
Implied
Smaller Components: types
Infinitesimals: types
Inspection
of Table 1 suggests that there is no upper limit to the higher levels of the universe. The deeper into space we point our latest
telescopes, the more macroscopic levels of order come into focus (Drinkwater,
2000). Furthermore, it appears that
there is no foundational level containing a fundamental universal building
block either. All new candidates for
this foundational structure have repeatedly been found to be divisible (Glanz,
1996). As living human organisms, we
thus appear to be situated in an unknown segment of an infinitude of strata
within which we have recognized about six levels above our own and about six
levels below, each with distinctive content.
This brings us to the issue of the nature of
reality. For our purposes it is
necessary to distinguish four different kinds of reality. They are: 1) External Reality, 2) Internal
Reality, 3) Survival-Imperative Reality, 4) Cultural Meme Reality.
3. 1. External Reality
External reality is the actual state of the
universe as it occurs independently of our participation or our agreement. It is the way things are, and how
the universe works. At first, the
nature of external reality appears hopelessly complex and paradoxical. On one hand, certain aspects of external
reality are ever changing. That
is, there is the continual movement of matter, for example Brownian motion, or
the travel of people, the erosion of stone by water, or the trajectory of
dangerous asteroids. There is also the
continual movement of time, and the continual flow of free energy and order
toward entropy and chaos.
Yet, other aspects of external reality
are ever the same. These are
constant and reliable. That is, the
macroscopic atomic and molecular properties of matter have the constancy and
predictability that produces not only the reliable nature of solids, liquids, and
gases, but also the earth’s rotational orbit around the sun. The movement of time at a given location is
continuously unidirectional, proportional, and predictable. The dependability
of energy is shown by the constancy and predictability of the speed of sound
and light, or the strength of gravity at a given location.
It is the contingent interplay of the
constant and changing properties of external reality that has led to the
evolution and continued operation of the universe, including the origin of life,
its properties, its modification, and its potential for migration to
energy-enriched quadrants of space.
Importantly, this interplay also provides personal, social, and cultural
access to the opportunity, abundance, and power inherent within the external
reality of the universe around us, and only found there.
3.2. Internal Reality
External reality is approachable to living
organisms by use multiple types of sensory apparatus. With sensory data derived from external reality, organisms can
create successively more accurate internal model approximations of it. A comparison of external reality and inner
reality is shown in Figure 1.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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The Universe: The
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EXTERNAL REALITY:
SOURCE OF ABUNDANCE, OPPORTUNITY AND POWER
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like images on a screen, external reality can
never be reached, only approached: x
Word Processor Inventors x
INTERNAL (SENSOR-BASED)- Certain Areas of
Science x Molecular Biology
Word Processor Users x
Triadism x Rising
above this brings
Threshold of
Workability:-----------------------------x---------------sufficient
alignment to begin
x to tap
the bounties of the universe.
x Neuroscience
APPROXIMATIONS
x Certain Philosophies
x Some Areas of Science
x
Many Philosophies
OF EXTERNAL x Most Politics
x Many World Religions
x Traditions
REALITY x Metaphors
x
Word Processor Beginners
x
Miracles
= MY “TRUTH” x Dualism
x
Myths
x
Magic
x Omens
x
Superstitions
x Monism
x Ignorance
x Unawareness
x Unconsciousness
x Dead-Inanimate
____________________________________________________________________________
Thus, our own individual internal reality is
a sensory-based, continually upgraded, inner model of external reality. At first, this is of necessity a grossly inaccurate
and idiosyncratic personal approximation (Figure 1). The more accurate it becomes, the more successfully we can align
with and operate in the way the universe actually works; thus, to tap its
resources. As a side benefit, the more
accurate and effective our inner model becomes, the more it begins to resemble,
not only external reality, but the inner approximations of others who have also
crossed the threshold of workability in their search. Concerted, aligned communication then begins to replace
confusion.
However, it must be born in mind that inner
reality is related to external reality like images of an object are reflected
on a mirror, etched on a photograph, or projected onto a monitor. External reality is both unreachable and of
a different nature than our inner reality models. That is, there is no green out there. Green is a product of the brain's processing of reflectance and
absorbance sensory data from something that is out there. Whenever sensed, this object reliably
produces the inner perception of green.
Therefore, these and the other reliable sensory-response metaphors can
be used to create a practical working model from which to make ‘sense’ of, and
use our environment. However, in this
regard any absolute truth is inherently indeterminate and can only be
approximated.
3.3 Survival-Imperative
Reality
The universe appears to exist without design,
plan, or purpose and to operate independently of our, or anyone else’s
existence (Stenger, 1988).
Nevertheless, life continues to originate and evolve within it. Continued existence of any life form,
critically depends upon that living organism or its associates taking action to
enhance its survival. Organisms
choosing not to act to optimize their survival ultimately cease to exist, while
those that make survival a personal imperative, thrive, and evolve. The survival of such organisms has led to
the selection of those organisms that develop genetically transmitted,
advantageous survival instincts.
Ultimately these instincts have imbued the
inherent meaninglessness of existence and life with a sacredness and intensity
of meaning. This has transformed the
apathetic inaction or meaningless activity of neutrality into a
survival-motivated sense purpose, teleology, design, significance, functional
importance, and urgency. From survival
imperative reality, both good and evil spring into being. In the past, these have often been
personified and magnified as omni-deities; G(o)od, angels, d(evil)
and demons locked in mortal combat in competition for our personal allegiance
to the survival of life or death. This
survival-imperative reality appears to have paralleled, and thus may ultimately
be integral to the continuing physical immortality of life. Ironically, the current physical immortality
of terrestrial life, has itself not become accessible to any of its expendable
members as yet.
From the imperative of survival, it becomes
clear that the more accurately we ‘tell the truth’ about the way the universe
is, the more quickly we can rise above our individual and collective confusions
to cross “the threshold of workability” (Figure 1). Then, we can begin to optimize our use of contingencies to align
with external reality of the universe, and tap its abundance, opportunity, and
power, to enhance our lives. Thus, from
survival-imperative reality come the drives of curiosity and intentionality as
prime enhancers of survival. Through
the desire to know (how better to survive), some individuals markedly
enhance the quality of their lives and those around them. However, in the past because lives were
short, the ability of an individual broadly to communicate to others the
successful survival rules he and she had learned or developed was very limited.
3.4 Cultural-Meme Reality
This meant that, with the notable exception
of the continued slow incorporation of many advantageous behaviors into genetic
survival instincts, each surviving child had to start from ground zero in the
process of learning how to use external reality to enhance his or her
survival. With the evolution of the
transmission of information, first through mimicry, then orally, and then as
long-term written records, the production and transmission of cultural memes
containing survival information about external reality became possible. Memes (Dawkins, 1976) are communicable
inner reality models of external reality that exist in the form of
semi-independent socially-transmitted “truths”, i.e., beliefs or belief
systems. If, under rare circumstances,
the meme incorporated from a trusted authority (usually a parent) into the
novice’s inner reality was a fairly accurate inner model of an element of
external reality, then its use bypassed the need for that novice, or for each
new generation personally to invent or rediscover such processes as washing
dirt off potatoes with sea water (as wild Japanese Macaques have recently
learned to do; Kawai, 1965), or how to make fire, or produce metal.
In contrast, the transmission of fictional
memes, which by definition are inaccurate wishful beliefs about external
reality, has promoted endless wanderings beneath the threshold of workability
(Figure 1). Reception of accurate
cultural- memes of reality gave an individual and their society a head start in
life so that they could rise to previously un-reached heights of survival
optimization. From there, new, even
more accurate memes could be constructed, which then could also be corrected,
expanded, remembered-recorded, and again transmitted. Thus, humanity in its search for truth began to stand on the
shoulders of its ancestors so as to be in the position to ask and answer ever
more pointed questions about the nature of external and internal reality. In certain areas, we have risen toward or
even exceed the threshold of workability (Figure 1). In terms of survival- imperative reality, progress does
exist. It is defined, as the
enhancement of the survival of one’s self and one’s human family in
ever-expanding circles of ecology.
Critically, with the accumulation of many conflicting cultural memes of
reality, came the need for the freedom to choose between memes as to which
promoted better long-term survival.
This has led to the further evolution of intelligence and apparent
freedom of choice.
3.6. Objectivity-Subjectivity in Tetradic Reality
Parenthetically, with the distinction of
these four types of reality, the use of the terms, “subjective”, and,
“objective” becomes troublesome by potentially creating two opposite meanings
for each of these terms. It would
appear best to retain the common meaning of “objective” as a personally
unbiased judgment and without contamination by the special pleadings of
survival imperative reality. The usual
meaning of, “subjective”, would remain quiet the opposite, i.e., a judgment
potentially distorted by the presence of personal, self-oriented, or emotional
bias.
4. Time and Potential Energy as the Fourth and Fifth Dimensions of
Causality
With the above description of the tetradic nature
of reality in hand, we can now build a more accurate model of the
universe. To begin, let us activate our
static three-dimensional (3-D: length, width, height) structural universe of
endless levels occupied by unique types (Table 1) into the actual dynamic
universe of motion. To create this
activity, we must add two new elements.
The first is time, a fourth dimension (Newcomb, 1895,
Einstein, 1984). The second is energy,
a fifth dimension (Kaluza, 1921; Einstein, 1927; Morton, 1985a). The fourth and fifth dimensions used here
are not to be confused with other unimaginable added structural dimensions
(Moller, Madland, Sierk, & Iwamoto, 2001).
To the contrary, common everyday behavior, both living and non-living,
is actually five dimensional. That is,
although often unrecognized, the addition over time (4th D) of
energy (5th D) to a normal 3-D structure is the sole source of
movement and animation. In spite of
our apparent lack of formal awareness of this fact, we commonly operate as if
we knew so intuitively.
5. The Triadic Nature of Behavior
A point well emphasized from the above is
that the input of the fourth dimension of time and of the fifth dimension free
energy converts immobile universe structural strata into a myriad of motions,
activities, and processes.
Correspondingly, the removal of either of these two required dimensional
elements brings any material system to a total halt in terms of behavior, as in
inert archeological strata. Yet, the
critical difference between a structure and its activities is generally not
appreciated beyond such vague statements, such as “One cannot compare apples
with oranges”. Therefore, rather than
seeming to confuse things here by talking about apparently-strange five
dimensional events, let us further clarify the nature of behavior by
introducing the equivalent concept of Triadism. That is, the behavior of :
1) a physical structure (any material 3-D object) critically
depends, not only on its intact, functional status, but also occurs 2) over a finite period of time; by
the 3) coupling of the input of an ultimately causal amount of accessible
potential chemical free energy (= ΔG, not E=mc2).
Today, terrestrial life forms use as their
primary energy source mainly waste solar radiation, trapped by terrestrial
photosynthesis as it passes by the earth.
Originally, Archaebacteria may have used the earth’s planetary heat, and
also chemical energy available at undersea volcanic vents as their source of free
energy. Some of these early organisms
may later have developed the ability to rise and tap solar radiation, as a more
abundant and accessible source of power.
So, in summary, only when these three critical conditions are present (a
structure, over time, powered by coupled free energy) can movements,
activities, processes, phenomena, or any other type of behavior occur. Conversely,
in the absence of any member of this foundational trinity, absolutely no
behavior is possible.
5.1. Behavioral Lessons from Labor-Saving
Devices: Triadic Requirement for
Activity
To facilitate gaining clarity about the
triadic nature of behavior, it is useful first to consider the behavioral
properties of electronic or mechanical equipment, for example, a videocassette
recorder (VCR) or an automobile. The
past, present, or future activities of a VCR or a car cannot be discovered by
dissecting their structures. That is,
one cannot hear a movie star's whisper either by taking apart the VCR, or by
inspecting the structure of the videotape, even with an electron microscope. Nor will dismantling one's auto reveal the
route or speed of the trip with a friend from the restaurant last night. Yet, the useful behavioral activities of
each machine are totally dependent upon its structural integrity. If one cuts an essential wire or breaks a
required mechanical part of either, it becomes inactive, nonfunctional, and
essentially "dead", “soulless”.
The activities of these machines are also
totally dependent upon time. Complete
viewing and assessment of a movie on a VCR cannot be done in a second, nor can
one get across Tokyo by taxi in a minute.
Lastly, it is also clear that the activities of both a VCR and a car
depend upon the input of free energy, either from, say, a nuclear fission
reactor powered electrical source, or from the release of the solar fusion
energy stored within the covalent bonds of petroleum.
5.2. Behavioral Lessons of
Enzymology: Dependence of Catalysis
upon the Activity Triad
To avoid the illusion that human interference
might invalidate the above illustrations, it is instructive to consider the
activity of enzymes. Chemical catalysis
by enzymes provides a very well characterized system that can be viewed as
analogous in principle to the mind-body problem. Enzymes are usually proteins (large linear polymers of small
molecule amino acid building blocks) whose activities can accelerate the rate
at which a specific chemical reaction approaches its energetic equilibrium by
as much as several billion fold (Nelson, and Cox, 2000) without becoming used
up in the process. The emergence of
enzymes was a key event in the origin of terrestrial life.
Many biochemists of the 1960s thought that if
they could just see the structure of an enzyme, they could understand how it
worked. It was felt that then its
mechanism of action would become at least accessible, if not obvious. Using x-ray crystallography and other
powerful techniques, biophysicists have now completely solved the atomic
structure of hundreds of enzymes. Yet
at present, this vast information about the static positions of all the
thousands of atoms in an unknown protein does not permit the prediction that a
peptide is even an enzyme, much less what its specific catalytic activity might
be. Proteins that are structurally
quite similar may have widely different specific catalytic properties, if they
are catalysts at all. Conversely,
certain proteins that are structurally very different can specifically catalyze
the same reaction. Thus, the relation
of enzyme structure to catalytic activity did not become obvious, even when
complete structural information was available.
However, enzymologists studying enzyme
activity by adding kinetic (time based) and thermodynamic (energy based)
methods to this new 3-D structural information have discovered the exact
mechanisms promoting enzyme catalysis (Nelson and Cox, 2000). First, they confirmed that there were indeed
non-obvious, but critically essential, structural requirements for an enzyme to
act as a catalyst. In fact, the
activity of an enzyme is absolutely tied to its 3-D structural integrity, a
point that cannot be overemphasized.
This key concept was illustrated by the fact that enzyme catalysis was
found to be extremely sensitive to small changes in enzyme structural
conformation. For instance, a lethal
point mutation, created by the substitution of only one amino acid out of the
hundreds in the primary structure of an enzyme, can totally abolish its
catalytic activity.
Second, a critical “active site” within the
enzyme actually provided the needed local chemical environment required to
facilitate, via bond distortion and strain introduction, the actual energetic
activation of specific covalent bonds in the reactant. This also included the
coupling and transfer of the resulting labilized reactant chemical free energy
into lower-energy, more entropic products.
This concept was confirmed by attempting to utilize reaction conditions
where the reactants and products had already been set thermodynamically at
chemical equilibrium. There, no net catalytic
activity occurred, in spite of enzyme structural adequacy and the presence of
time. Of course, regardless of how much
intact enzyme and potential energy were present, if there was too little
incubation time available, nothing happened.
5.3. Universe Levels of Living Organisms
As Table 2 illustrates, essentially all of
the structural levels of living organisms are now known in detail. No black boxes remain in the nervous system
that might yet be dissected to reveal mind.
In fact, as has probably become obvious to the reader, there is no mind
at all in structure alone, thus excluding Monism. Yet, unfortunately for Dualism, mind absolutely cannot be
separated from structure or exist extra-corporeally without it. This ancient paradox is completely resolved
by shifting to a more accurate paradigm of reality. As will be seen, a greater understanding of the fundamental
differences between structure and activity has now become possible as a by‑product
of the scientific research of the last century.
Table 2. The Structural Organization of Life Forms:
Strata and Content
All life forms: types
Terrestrial species: types
= Linnaean and other taxonomic trees
Tribes: types
Families: types
Individuals: types
Nervous systems: types
Peripheral
nervous systems: types
Central nervous
systems: types
Spinal cords: types
Brain:
Quadrimental systems: types
Cerebral systems: types
Cerebellar systems: types
Limbic
systems: types
Brain core systems: types
Cells: types in central
nervous system
Glia: types
Neurons: types
Neuronal subcellular organelles: types
Dendrites: types
Perikarya, Nuclei: types
Axons: types
Mitochondria: types
Supramolecular assemblies:
types
Membranes:
types
Microtubules,
Neurofilaments: types
Synaptic
vesicles: types
Gates and
ionophores: types
Pumps: types
Neuroreceptors: types
Macromolecules: types
Proteins, Nucleic Acids, Polysaccharides, Complex Lipids: types
Enzymes: types
Neuroreceptor subunit structural macromolecules: types
Control‑cascade components: types
DNAs-RNAs: types
Building blocks: types
Receptor ligands: types
Neurotransmitter agonists & antagonists: types
Neuromodulator agonists & antagonists: types
Hormone agonists and antagonists: types
Second messengers: types
Cyclic nucleotides: types
Cofactors:
types
Energy & metabolic intermeds.: types
Precursors: types
Inorganic ions: types
Gases: types
Subatomic particles: types
Electrons,
Protons: types
___________________________________________________________________________________________
5.4. Reformatting the Mind-Body Problem
With the preceding background in place, we can
now turn directly to the Triadic solution of the mind-body problem. Strictly speaking, the classical mind‑body
problem is a double misnomer. First, it
inappropriately matches a structure from one universe level (Tables 1
and 2), namely, the body of an organism, with the activity of an organ
from the universe level immediately below it, i.e., mind. Note that mind is produced by the activity
of the brain, not of the body. This
confusion can be eliminated by reformulating the mind-body problem. That is, by splitting it into two, separate
universe-level problems: The Brain‑Mind
Problem, and The Body‑Life Problem.
Thus posed, the original mind‑body problem was recognized to be
subsets of the structure‑activity relationship (Morton, 1985a).
Second, this formulation also eliminates the
former habitually improper treatment of mind and body as comparable objects
within the same class (i.e., as structure vs. structure: “apples and apples”)
when in fact each are items from logically incomparable categories (structure
vs. activity, i.e., “apples vs. oranges”).
As a result, the seemingly paradoxical relationship of life to body or
brain to mind can now be clarified through the triadic pillars of behavior or
activity. That is, some activities of a
single organ structure, the brain, powered by energy over time, include mind
(and consciousness). Similarly, some of
the activities of the entire body, powered over time by energy, include life
(or living). The examples in Table 3
further illustrate this structure-activity relationship. There, it may be seen that the activity of
each of the various functional structures (i.e., enzyme, computer, body, etc.)
results when energy is appropriately coupled to it over time.
Table 3. The Triadic Pillars
of Activity
___________________________________________________________________
Structure + Time + Potential
Energy = Activity
___________________________________________________________________
Enzyme seconds calories from equilibrium Catalysis of a reaction
Automobile minutes octane of fuel Travel on roadways
Video Player minutes
110-220 V electricity
Projection of multimedia
Computer microseconds 110-220 V electricity
Processing of data
Brain milliseconds
cal. in glucose, oxygen Mind:
survival data analysis
Body minutes calories in foodstuff Life: survival optimization
____________________________________________________________________
Activity is a process, an event, an action, a
phenomenon, an occurrence, a doing.
Human behavior is an activity. Thus,
all behavioral activities stand upon the same triad, absolutely requiring three
elements: intact structure, time, and potential energy. In fact, all proper macroscopic
specific-activity descriptions ultimately must formally consist of units of
each of these three elements: that is, change in chemical free energy per unit
mass of structure per unit time.
5.5. Cellular Homeostasis as
the Source of All Living Behavior.
Certain inquirers have connected behavior to
body survival, including Spinoza (1977), Bickerton (1995) and Damasio,
(1999). However, it is the cell,
together with its determining genes, that is the fundamental building block of
all terrestrial living organisms. Thus,
the survival of the individual living cell is the central requirement
for the existence of life. There is no
independent life below the cellular level.
Thus, a biochemist stands at the interface between inanimate nature and
life itself.
The order required for life to exist is
obtained by cell-based diversion, storage, and utilization of solar free energy
that would have normally have been lost on earth as entropic heat. This captured energy is used for the
survival, function, and reproductive work of the cell. The vital conditions
required by the cells within our bodies are herein called cellular survival
requirements (CSR). CSR are in many
ways similar to the salinity conditions of the sea, one of many observations
that support the view that life first originated there. CSR include the many narrow pH, osmotic, ionic,
and nutritional requirements. An
unprotected cell will die if even one of these vital conditions is not met.
Any force distorting the cellular environment
away from CSR is called a biological stressor. Cells resist biological stress by the multi-layered process of homeostasis. Homeostasis, which means to maintain a state
of constancy, is a term covering any action that a living organism may take in
order to maintain CSR in the face of environmental stress. Through evolution, cells within organisms
have become increasingly adept at protecting themselves. They do so by calling forth a large arsenal
of defensive-compensatory, stress-resisting reactions and adaptations.
The following is not generally
appreciated: At each universe level of
structural organization within a living organism, living organisms have
naturally selected an appropriate set of homeostatic defensive tools. Thus, 1) At the biochemical-metabolic level,
homeostatic responses include the vital buffering of acid production, damping
of chemical oxidation, and regulation of enzyme activities through feedback
loops. 2) At the cellular level,
homeostatic mechanisms include the controlled active and passive transport of
small molecules into compartments bounded by membranes, the activation or
inhibition of enzyme synthesis, and the regulation of vital hormonal and
neurotransmitter receptors. 3)
Tissue-level homeostatic devices include such processes as inflammation, edema,
and immune rejection for protection.
Continuing, 4) Organ responses to stress
include local adjustments in blood flow and defensive compensations in organ
size. 5) Whole organism homeostasis
includes the coordinated neuroendocrine and brain-directed internal and
external stress defense behaviors that maximize survival gain and minimize
survival loss within the complex outer environment (Darwin, 1859, 1871). 6) At the next higher universe level, even
groups of organisms have evolved homeostatic devices that assist in defending and
maintaining the basic CSR for individual cells within the bodies of group
members. These group responses include
the stabilizing effects of society such as the nuclear family, kin groups,
communities, and working cooperatives, such as agriculture, industry, commerce,
and the police. Furthermore, a human
culture’s collection of survival and contra cell survival memes are inculcated
in each new generation via parental example, education, religion, science, and
the mass media.
While in the above description, the cell was
described as at the effect of its environment, it can also be viewed as
environmentally causal, even invasive.
Regardless, it is clear that the homeostatic drive to maintain CSR is
quite literally the source of all living behavior. Every act at all levels in every living system has at its core
“motive” the attempt to maintain or restore optimal cellular survival
requirements. Thus, it is accurate to
say that for living organisms, the drive to optimize cellular survival is
the source, purpose, and goal of all behavior. This drive is a genetically determined, inherent property of
cellular organisms from which there is no freedom, except death.
However, if we have no choice in our
behavior, then why do we continually ask ourselves in essence the following
questions, as if we actually had freedom of choice? "What should I be doing now (to optimize survival)?",
"What should I do next (to optimize survival)?", "I wonder what
would have happened if I had tried that other possibility (to optimize
survival)?" Because we often are
unaware of the implicit motive (to optimize survival) behind our questions and
speech, we feel that we are free. This
illusion of freedom of choice exists, not because "The human brain
has made a quantitative evolutionary jump and is no longer subject to genetic
determinism. It can now make
choices". Rather, it exists
because within genetic determinism, a new level has emerged where there is vast
freedom of choice, including that of which of those many cultural memes now in
existence should we choose to guide us regarding how we either meet the demand
to optimize cellular survival, or drop out of life.
That is, within this predetermined or
consciously chosen survival orientation, there are three great freedoms of
choice. The first freedom is, when I
shall optimize survival, now or later (immediate vs. deferred)? The second freedom is, whose survival I
shall maximize, my own or that of my family (self vs. other-oriented)? The third freedom is whom I shall call “my
family” (us humans vs. them aliens)?
Will it be just myself, or will it include my offspring, my nuclear
family, my extended family clan, or my tribe?
Will I draw the line regarding my family at my class, my race, my
nation, my species, at some of terrestrial life, or include all terrestrial
life (mud-daubers, fleas, mosquitoes, tape-worms, pathogenic organisms, deadly
microorganisms, and all)?
Just like Hitler and Gandhi, each individual
has a unique history in terms of their own choices as to how to best optimize
survival in the presence of the contingencies of life. These choices totally describe the, who,
what, why, where, when, and how of our thinking and behavior. Thus, Hitler worked tirelessly and brilliantly
for the survival maximization of his family.
However, he defined his family very narrowly (i.e., only non-defective
Teutons were human). Gandhi’s choice
of family included all of Homo sapiens.
By now, being forced to remove divine or diabolic supernatural
influences from the equation, it becomes clear that an individual’s answers to
these ongoing three choices have been the source of the highest and lowest of
all human accomplishment.
5.6. The Activity of Brain Structure, Powered
over Time by Energy, is Mind and Thinking
Just as biochemical catalysis requires the
activities of an enzyme, so one's mind originates as a behavior of a
brain-based nervous system. The complex
structure of the brain is known or is being elucidated at many levels (Table
2). In humans, it appears that
cerebellar, and limbic accretions, together with the cerebrum have been added
to the original brain core and striatum, producing in humans what has been
modeled as the Quadrimental Brain (Morton, 1985b, Morton,1989).
Mind has been defined in numerous ways. Some of these are very narrow, seeking to
limit mind to a property only possessed by the human species. These definitions insist that mind only
includes the mental activity of the abstract thinking required for the
production of fully developed syntactical language (Chomsky, 1959). Such a definition is rejected here because
such would assert, not only that Helen Keller was mindless until the age of
sixteen when she learned a language, but also that most children before the age
of two, and the adult speakers of only pidgin proto-languages are mindless was
well (Bickerton, 1995).
On the other hand, some traditional Eastern
definitions of mind have been so broad as to go beyond the requirements of
external sensory awareness monitored by a brain-containing life form. These label the response of any material
object to energy input as part of so-called “universal consciousness” and
therefore as part of mind. Thus, a
nucleic acid, by changing its structural conformation in response to an altered
nuclear ionic environment, would be said to show a rudimentary form of
consciousness, like a compass needle, or wind in the trees, all of which would
be viewed as part of universal mind.
Such definitions are too broad to be meaningful here, although the
terrestrial biofeedback loops of the “Living Earth”, Gaia Hypothesis (Lovelock,
1979) do make it of interest.
In keeping with the concept that cellular
homeostasis is the source of all living behavior, mind is here defined as any brain-dependent
activity which seeks to optimize survival of the cells of the organism,
directly or indirectly. Known brain‑based
homeostatic activities include the following:
1. Gathering of current
internal and external sensory data stimuli.
2. Storage of that current
sensory data, along with current drives, emotions, personal theories, cultural
memes, biases, and goals, into primary memory. 3. Assembly of memory
data containing earlier experiences similar to the present one, including
associated past survival calculations, conclusions, responses, and results,
together with past thoughts and emotions.
4. Use of the assembled data to
formulate new best and worst- survival outcome projections from past into the
future. 5. Selection of an unconscious or conscious response whose goal is
to optimize short or long‑term cellular survival of self or family. 6.
Initiation of the response, including that of a non-response. 7.
Recordation and evaluation of the effects of the response in terms of homeostatic
success. Clearly, these brain
activities more than encompass the requirements for mind and consciousness by
any conventional definition.
5.6.1. Triadic Relationship of Structure to
Activity: Loss of Mind
There is much evidence of the profound effect
that alteration of brain structure has upon mind, consciousness, and mental
functioning. These data include the
unique consequences of region‑specific brain alterations produced by
genetic mutation, developmental arrests, strokes and other cerebral accidents,
gunshot wounds and other head trauma, brain tumors, chemical and surgical brain
ablations, including the semi-reversible effects of psychoactive drugs.
5.6.2. Triadic Relationship of Time to Brain
Activity: It Takes Time to Think
Although it takes more time to ponder about
some things than others, the seemingly instantaneous or simultaneous nature of
certain thoughts is an illusion resulting from the millisecond rate of some
brain neuronal intercommunications. It
is interesting to note that rate of thinking is sometimes an important element
in the definition of intelligence (Hernstein and Murray, 1994). If this were the sole component, however, it
would make the most obsolescent computer more intelligent than any human.
5.6.3. Triadic Relationship of Energy to Brain
Activity: Need for Fuel
As in all other cases, brain activity, including mind, is not only dep