11 found
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  1. Beyond Combination: How Cosmic Consciousness Grounds Ordinary Experience.Itay Shani & Joachim Keppler - 2018 - Journal of the American Philosophical Association 4 (3):390-410.
    The aim of this paper is twofold. First, our purpose is to propose and motivate a novel and scientifically informed variant of cosmopsychism, namely, the view that the experiences of ordinary subjects are ultimately grounded in an all-pervading cosmic consciousness. Second, we will demonstrate that this approach generates promising avenues for addressing familiar problems of phenomenal constitution. We use stochastic electrodynamics (SED) as the physical bedrock of our approach, supplementing it with key insights about the nature of consciousness long emphasized (...)
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  2. Cosmopsychism and Consciousness Research: A Fresh View on the Causal Mechanisms Underlying Phenomenal States.Joachim Keppler & Itay Shani - 2020 - Frontiers in Psychology 11 (Article 371):1-7.
    Despite the progress made in studying the observable exteriors of conscious processes, which are reflected in the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), there are still no satisfactory answers to two closely related core questions. These are the question of the origin of the subjective, phenomenal aspects of consciousness, and the question of the causal mechanisms underlying the generation of specific phenomenal states. In this article, we address these questions using a novel variant of cosmopsychism, a holistic form of panpsychism relying (...)
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  3. The Role of the Brain in Conscious Processes: A New Way of Looking at the Neural Correlates of Consciousness.Joachim Keppler - 2018 - Frontiers in Psychology 9 (Article 1346):1-8.
    This article presents a new interpretation of the consciousness-related neuroscientific findings using the framework of stochastic electrodynamics (SED), a branch of physics that sheds light on the basic principles underlying quantum systems. It is propounded that SED supplemented by two well-founded hypotheses leads to a satisfying explanation of the neural correlates of consciousness. The theoretical framework thus defined is based on the notion that all conceivable shades of phenomenal awareness are woven into the frequency spectrum of a universal background field, (...)
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  4.  84
    Taking Robots Beyond the Threshold of Awareness: Scientifically Founded Conditions for Artificial Consciousness.Joachim Keppler - 2023 - Proceedings of the 1St Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Perception and Artificial Consciousness (Aixpac 2023), Ceur Workshop Proceedings, Volume 3563.
    To approach the creation of artificial conscious systems systematically and to obtain certainty about the presence of phenomenal qualities (qualia) in these systems, we must first decipher the fundamental mechanism behind conscious processes. In achieving this goal, the conventional physicalist position exhibits obvious shortcomings in that it provides neither a plausible mechanism for the generation of qualia nor tangible demarcation criteria for conscious systems. Therefore, to remedy the deficiencies of the standard physicalist approach, a new theory for the understanding of (...)
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  5. Building Blocks for the Development of a Self-Consistent Electromagnetic Field Theory of Consciousness.Joachim Keppler - 2021 - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 15:723415.
    The goal of this work is to compile the basic components for the construction of an electromagnetic field theory of consciousness that meets the standards of a fundamental theory. An essential cornerstone of the conceptual framework is the vacuum state of quantum electrodynamics which, contrary to the classical notion of the vacuum, can be viewed as a vibrant ocean of energy, termed zero-point field (ZPF). Being the fundamental substrate mediating the electromagnetic force, the ubiquitous ZPF constitutes the ultimate bedrock of (...)
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  6. The Common Basis of Memory and Consciousness: Understanding the Brain as a Write–Read Head Interacting With an Omnipresent Background Field.Joachim Keppler - 2020 - Frontiers in Psychology 10 (Article 2968):1-13.
    The main goal of this article consists in addressing two fundamental issues of consciousness research and cognitive science, namely, the question of why declarative memory functions are inextricably linked with phenomenal awareness and the question of the physical basis of memory traces. The presented approach proposes that high-level cognitive processes involving consciousness employ a universal mechanism by means of which they access and modulate an omnipresent background field that is identified with the zero-point field (ZPF) specified by stochastic electrodynamics, a (...)
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  7.  97
    On the Universal Mechanism Underlying Conscious Systems and the Foundations for a Theory of Consciousness.Joachim Keppler - 2016 - Open Journal of Philosophy 6 (4):346-367.
    In this article, I present a novel approach to the scientific understanding of consciousness. It is based on the hypothesis that the full range of phenomenal qualities is built into the frequency spectrum of a ubiquitous background field and proceeds on the assumption that conscious systems employ a universal mechanism by means of which they are able to extract phenomenal nuances selectively from this field. I set forth that in the form of the zero-point field (ZPF) physics can offer a (...)
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  8. A new perspective on the functioning of the brain and the mechanisms behind conscious processes.Joachim Keppler - 2013 - Frontiers in Psychology, Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 4 (Article 242):1-6.
    An essential prerequisite for the development of a theory of consciousness is the clarification of the fundamental mechanisms underlying conscious processes. In this article I present an approach that sheds new light on these mechanisms. This approach builds on stochastic electrodynamics (SED), a promising theoretical framework that provides a deeper understanding of quantum systems and reveals the origin of quantum phenomena. I outline the most important concepts and findings of SED and interpret the neurophysiological body of evidence in the context (...)
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  9. A Conceptual Framework for Consciousness Based on a Deep Understanding of Matter.Joachim Keppler - 2012 - Philosophy Study 2 (10):689-703.
    One of the main challenges in consciousness research is widely known as the hard problem of consciousness. In order to tackle this problem, I utilize an approach from theoretical physics, called stochastic electrodynamics (SED), which goes one step beyond quantum theory and sheds new light on the reality behind matter. According to this approach, matter is a resonant oscillator that is orchestrated by an all-pervasive stochastic radiation field, called zero-point field (ZPF). The properties of matter are not intrinsic but acquired (...)
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    Laying the Foundations for a Theory of Consciousness: The Significance of Critical Brain Dynamics for the Formation of Conscious States.Joachim Keppler - 2024 - Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 18:1379191.
    Empirical evidence indicates that conscious states, distinguished by the presence of phenomenal qualities, are closely linked to synchronized neural activity patterns whose dynamical characteristics can be attributed to self-organized criticality and phase transitions. These findings imply that insight into the mechanism by which the brain controls phase transitions will provide a deeper understanding of the fundamental mechanism by which the brain manages to transcend the threshold of consciousness. This article aims to show that the initiation of phase transitions and the (...)
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  11. Brain and Mind: How Neural Networks Acquire Phenomenal Awareness by Tapping into a Ubiquitous Field of Consciousness.Joachim Keppler - 2021 - In Alberto García Gómez, Maria Paola Brugnoli & Alberto Carrara (eds.), Bioethics and Consciousness. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 89-102.
    A novel approach to the scientific understanding of phenomenal awareness is presented that accepts consciousness as ontologically fundamental and is based on the hypothesis that the whole range of phenomenal nuances is inherent in the frequency spectrum of a ubiquitous field of consciousness. Pursuing this idea, it is postulated that the brain employs a universal interaction mechanism through which it taps into this field, thereby acquiring phenomenal qualities. I argue that the edifice of modern physics can not only offer a (...)
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