Arrow of time in neuroscience: TGD based view

We have written together with Reza Rastmanesh several articles related to biology, neuroscience, and TGD during this year. There is an article related to the arrow of time and memory in neuroscience - the topic of this posting - and 2 articles related to the arrow of time at the level of DNA. I decided to put the introductions of the articles to blog. Articles can be found also in Research Gate and hopefully sooner or later also at my homepage (my communizations to homepage have been continually terrorized during the summer).

The question that inspired tes article of arrow of time in neuroscience was whether memories about the future are possible. This requires retrocausality. The criticism of retrocausality relies on the assumption that time, in particular the thermo-dynamical time, has always the same arrow.

If one gives up this assumption, there is no reason forbidding retro-causality and phenomena like sensory perception of signals arriving from future giving rise to precognition. In fact, our ability to predict a lot about our future might be due to this kind of sensory perception rather than only due to computation using a neuronal model.

There is empirical evidence for non-standard arrow of time. Phase conjugate light rays (see this) obeying second law in wrong time direction, Fantappie's work (see this), self-organization in biology - the self-assembly of the tobacco mosaic virus is a classical example (see this). The latest finding that I learned of is that an isolated system can extract organized energy from its thermal energy (see this).

In the framework of Topological Geometrodynamics (TGD) zero energy ontology (ZEO) (see this) leads to a quantum measurement theory solving the basic problem of standard quantum measurement theory due to the conflict between determinism of Schrödinger equation and non-determinism of quantum jump. Key prediction is that the arrow of time changes in ordinary "big" state function reduction (BSFR) whereas in "small" state function reductions (SSFR) analogous to "weak" measurements the arrow of time is not changed.

This forces a generalization of thermodynamics and dissipation with opposite arrow of time allows to understand self-organization and also energy feed necessary for it in terms of generalized second law. A system dissipating in non-standard time direction seems from the point of view of the outsider to develop structures and extract energy from the environment. The non-standard arrow of time would be associated with the magnetic body (MB) carrying h_eff=nh₀ phases of ordinary matter identifiable as dark matter and making it a macroscopic quantum system for sufficiently large values of n. MB would act as master of the ordinary matter and induce effective time reversal at the level of ordinary matter in long time scales.

The TGD view about the neural system differs from the standard picture.

1. The first new element is the different role of nerve pulses: they create communication pathways along which dark photons can propagate.
2. Second new element is the presence of linear flux tube structures assignable to neural pathways assignable to linguistic cognition unstable against effective axonal splitting occurring in Alzheimer disease (AD) \citeAlz, and the presence of 2- and even 3-D flux tube structures assignable to geometric and holistic cognition: this would survive in AD (see this) and in states involving cognitive defects (idiot savants). Meridian system and glial cells could relate to this aspect.

   Communications in this system would be based on dark photons transforming to bio-photons and travelling along flux tubes with light velocity. This system would be the predecessor of the neural system and could be realized even in the case of plants. In the neural system the real communications would rely on dark photons - ordinary photons with effective Planck constant h_eff=nh₀>h.

   The communication lines would be dynamical consisting of axonal flux tubes connected by nerve pulse transmission to longer structures serving as wave guides along with dark photons signals would propagate. Metabolic economy could motivate this kind of realization as for electronic communications in modern society. Nerve pulses would only build the connection lines for communications inside the brain. They would however modulate the frequency of Josephson radiation from neuronal membrane to the MB of the brain and in this manner communicate sensory data from cell membrane to MB.

3. According to ZEO based theory of consciousness causal diamond (CD) identified as CD = cd × CP₂ ⊂ H = M⁴× CP₂, where H denotes 8-D imbedding space containing space-time as 4-surface, and cd is the intersection of future and past directed light-cones in 4-D Minkowski space M⁴ and CP₂ is 4-D complex projective space. The passive boundary would correspond to holistic, spatial, and the “timeless” component of conscious experience dominating in meditative states and active boundary to reductionistic, temporal part of conscious experience such as sensory perception and cognition. These components correspond to opposite arrows of time at certain layers of MB.
4. I have considered the realization of the holistic emotional intelligence in terms of the notion of bio-harmony (see this and this). Here one must however remember that emotions could be sensory percepts at the level of MB so that they should correspond to the dynamical aspects of consciousness rather than the permanent part. Music expresses and induces emotions and harmony codes for the emotional state. A model involving icosahedral and tetrahedral symmetries leads to a model that Pitkänen calls bio-harmony: the model predicts correctly the basic aspects of the vertebrate genetic code. The codons would correspond to 3-chords of bio-harmony. The realization of bio-harmony is assigned with magnetic bodies of the basic biomolecules including RNA and DNA.
5. EEG frequencies f>10 Hz assigned to wake-up consciousness could correspond to the effectively 1-D and "linguistic" neural system and frequencies f<10 Hz to the system responsible for holistic aspects. During sleep f<10 Hz dominates so that the consciousness should be holistic. Since we do not remember anything about this period, it could correspond to time reversed mode making possible precognition as sensory perception of signals from geometric future.
6. The effective change of the arrow of time in the neural system induced by its real change at the level of MB could mean the change of the direction of nerve pulse conduction. This reversal could explain phenomena like reverse writing and reverse speech discussed in (see this). There is evidence that AD patients have precognitive and prophetic dreams (for references see the article at Research Gate). Ordinary nerve pulse conduction is prevented in AD by axonal plaque and exponentially attenuated. In the reverse time direction there would be an exponential amplification with respect to standard direction of time. This suggests that AD neurons are dead in standard time direction but re-incarnated in the opposite time direction. Death would be a gradual process.

The proposed hypothesis is testable. To hold true, manipulation of the level of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) should reduce the formation of past event memory and increase the formation of future oriented precognitive memory traces. Indeed, there is evidence that Rivastigmine, a reversible ACEI used in the treatment of AD, increases memory and rapid eye movement sleep, and has been suggested that aside form those normal properties it could be implicated in retrograde dream formation, i.e., precognitive dreaming (for references see the article at Research Gate). Similar pilot study has yielded same results before (for references see the article at Research Gate).

Further support comes from the bidirectional relationship between AD and sleep disorders through a model of brain rhythm attractor breakdown (for reference see the article at Research Gate). In fact, individual differences were found in prophetic dream belief and experience, with a high frequency of prophetic dream experiences associated with disordered sleep patterns and sleep medication use (for references see the article at Research Gate).

In the sequel this picture is discussed in more detail. In particular, the question how the possibility of non-standard arrow of time could make possible precognition as sensory perception of signals from geometric future, is considered. Our ability to predict our future is usually regarded as trivial. Computationalists explain it by assuming that the brain is a computer predicting the future. This ability could involve this sensory perception in an essential manner.

See the article "Arrow of Time and Neuroscience: TGD Based View" at RG or at homepage , or the chapter with the same title.

For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.

Articles and other material related to TGD.