Mind-Body as Idealism versus Materialism

The mind-body problem is about the limits of what we can ever subjectively know with our mind about the objective nature of our body, which includes all physical reality outside of our mind's free choice. Sometimes people use the words idealism-materialism instead of mind-body and sometimes mysticism and the soul creeps into idealism as well. The mind-body question is among the many questions that people often ask that really have no unique answers and the mind-body problem is just such a question about idealism-materialism without a single unique answer, except of course free choice.

Typically, there are two kinds of answers;  a subjective idealism and an objective materialism, and idealism can include not only mind, but mysticism and soul as well outside of the physical world. However, the same subjective mind limits both idealism and materialism since what we freely choose about any objective materials outside of our mind is necessarily limited by our subjective minds. The figure below shows the mind's retina subjectively seeing a mirror reflection of that same retina that is doing the seeing. At the same moment that we see our retina, our subjective mind sees an objective retina of the body that others can see as well. However, no one will ever see exactly the same retina since their eyes and minds all see differently.

Note that people do not seem to associate morality with either the mind or the body even though there are both objective as well as subjective moralities. Thus, the world necessarily starts off for each of us with our subjective mind and it is only the narratives and images like retinas that we share with others along with the free choices that we make that show an objective reality outside of our minds.

While materialism supposes that there is an objective world of matter, like retinas, outside of the mind, idealism supposes that there are only neural matter actions in each mind's retina seeing itself despite the fact that the mind makes free choices. Furthermore, there are other minds that share narratives about the nature of reality that include retinas and free choices. Materialism further supposes that the mind’s mental states and free choice are results of material interactions of the body and so the mind is then just a product of that objective physical reality. The definition of materialism also includes the changes due to material interaction. It is after all only with the duality of both matter and action that the universe exists and so it is important to also consider action or change as a part of any physical reality.

In contrast to objective materialism, subjective idealism is the simple assumption that the mind and free choice are actually what determines the illusion of objective materialism. Idealism supposes that the subjective free choice of the mind that sees its own retina and that free choice determines the illusion of objective matter changes as a retina. Subjective idealism further argues that objective materialism is an illusion of the mind and that the subjective actions of the mind determine the only true reality. Even though the mind and free choice are made up of the action potentials of neural matter, idealism somehow still assumes that there is no objective materialism outside of the subjective mind.

Free choice is a mystery of the mind and is how minds affect matter action and while there are many different definitions of consciousness, in contrast, free choice has a simple definition. Free choice is how we make the world more desirable given a feeling that we have about a choice. Since we only perceive the objective world of retinas with the subjective mind's retina, the mystery is whether objective materialism of retinas exists outside of subjective free choice of the mind's retina or whether subjective free choice of the mind's retina is how objective materialism of retinas seems to exist.

We use knowledge of the world of objective materialism of retinas to predict likely outcomes from precursors, like seeing a retina with a retina, but knowledge has no meaning without free choice. There is a free choice of the mind's retina to see an objective retina, but without knowledge of retinas and mirrors, the image would have no meaning. The very meaning of free choice is tied to a lifetime of knowledge and experience.

Very simple organisms have likewise very simple neural networks that nevertheless also provide free choice to those organisms. The neural networks of the hydra or nematode both freely choose outcomes that depend on precursors, but those free choice outcomes are never completely predictable or determinate from those precursors. Classically, it is the chaos of random noise that limits the precision of predictions and there is no limit to the possible precision of a prediction. However, there are quantum limits to the precise prediction of all action in the universe is subject to a well-defined and discrete quantum limit.

Objective materialism predicts most likely outcomes from matter, action, and quantum phase given a set of precursors along with some random chaos. Since we can share those predictions with others, these predictions are the objective reality of materialism despite the random chaos. However, materialism still means free choice based on a set of precursors that determine feeling and so those objective materialist choices are still part of the same subjective reality of idealism.

Subjective idealism also chooses an outcome based on a set of precursors that determine feeling and that feeling is not possible to completely know. Since we choose based on feelings and feelings are unique for each person, free choice forms a subjective reality that is unique for each person. Feeling is a neural action that derives from the action of a moment of thought, a lifetime of precursor memories, and sensations of the moment. Even though we can share measurements of matter action with others, idealism still supposes that objective reality is just an illusion of our subjective reality.

Accelerating Light

Einstein first proposed the equivalence of atom mass and energy in 1905 and by that equivalence showed that the energy of magnetism was then simply due to the kinetic energy of moving charge. This simple equivalence between energy and mass amazingly showed that while electricity came from static charge, magnetism came from moving charge and so united electricity and magnetism. The equivalence of mass and energy also led to matter warping space and time with gravity as he further showed in 1915. However, Einstein never completed the quantum gravity link between relativistic gravity and quantum charge. Relativistic paths in space time are, after all, like straight lines in just space and so gravity really does not exist in the straight paths of 4D spacetime.

Planck showed in 1899 the quantum or particle nature of light by equating light frequency to the energy of photon particles. Einstein later showed in 1905 that the equivalence of matter and energy also meant that matter was equivalent to frequency as well. The notion of matter oscillating just like light is really the basis of quantum charge and that matter frequency is equivalent to its mass.

The final assumption that resolves the quantum gravity puzzle is a similarly simple assumption as the equivalence of matter and energy. The further simple assumption of the equivalence of the simplest quantum matter particle and the energy and frequency of the universe. The assumption that the energy of the universe is equivalent to its frequency means that there is a very slow acceleration of light over cosmic time. A very slow light acceleration means also that while static matter results in simple gravity, moving matter results in a gravity vector force, which then unifies quantum gravity and charge with light acceleration. Just as moving charges couple to each other with magnetism, moving matter decays couple to each other with gravitization, which is the quantum gravity vector force of dark matter. The matter decay of stars as radiation couples them together with gravitization just as moving charges couple as magnetism.

Einstein showed that the speed of light does not depend on source velocity, but he never considered the possibility of light accelerating over time because the speed of light essentially defines the atomic time of relativistic rest mass. While the speed of light does not change with source velocity, the acceleration of light does slow with increasing source velocity. Instead of the speed of light and atomic time being constant, light accelerates very slowly over universe time and atomic time increases very slowly over a universe time. The acceleration of light means that the equivalence of matter decay and force growth is the primal axiom of all changes in the universe.

As opposed to atom time of rest mass, which is proportional to the speed of light and photon frequencies, universe cosmic time is from the universal decay frequency of quantum matter, m_ae/h_ae = 1.18e-18s^-1, the aether particle mass divided by the matter-scaled Planck constant, h_ae = h/c². The universe mass shell is then a wave function collapsing into our reality at that very, very slow frequency. Accelerating light and force does mean that atomic clocks also accelerate in universe cosmic time. Universe cosmic time is the universal aether decay frequency, which ticks at the very slow rate of aether decoherence and universe mass shell collapse. 

From the equivalence of mass and energy, it necessarily follows that the speed of light does not depend on source velocity. The acceleration of light through space and over universe time does mean that the same light that we see now moved more slowly in the past. Since forces were also weaker in the past, light from distant galaxies is therefore red largely because of time and not because of expanding velocity red shifts. In fact, the universe mass shell is shrinking not growing even while the matter action universe forces are growing along with the speed of light.

Light accelerates over universe cosmic time and so atomic time also accelerates over universe cosmic time and and that acceleration unifies charge and gravity into a common matter action causal set. Light acceleration is therefore completely consistent with gravity relativity since both space and atom time emerge from matter action. Gravity is an exchange of biphoton quadrupoles just like charge is an exchange of photon dipoles.

Newton's Aether in Matter Action

Newton was the first to accurately predict gravity motions of the sun, moon, and planets and Newton’s predictions assumed space was absolute and filled with a luminiferous aether. In addition, Newton’s predictions assumed time was the independent of velocity and gravity, which of course Einstein showed is not true. Mainstream science now also rejects Newton’s notion of aether and since Einstein, science also accepts that time slows and space shrinks with increasing velocity and gravity.

Now, Newton’s aether returns in matter action but aether action does not then fill space. Rather, space and time emerge from aether action and so space and time are not axiomatic in matter action. The ancient archetypes of space and time seem so self evident and undeniable and yet space and time are really just convenient shortcuts for consciousness. Matter and action are the axioms upon which existence itself and even consciousness emerge even though it is very hard to imagine a world starting with only matter and action without the primacy of space and time...but such a world does indeed exist.

Although ancient narratives describe the world in many different contexts, ancient narratives often include notions of a smallest particle filling all of space...aether. Up until Einstein, aether was a very popular working fluid for the universe and aether filled all space as the medium for the changes of gravity and charge. Even though Newton’s gravity seemed to act through space without any aether, Newton always presumed that gravity was somehow still based on an aether filled space.

In fact, Newton’s motion of light through space depended on his luminiferous aether and so the speed of light should depend on motion through aether as well. Western alchemy filled all space with aether as the fifth element that often complemented earth, fire, water, and air. However, in the Eastern alchemy, the essence qi filled the heavens and was never an Eastern element of the five Feng Shui elements of earth, air, wood, metal, and fire. However, the Eastern qi was still the essence of heaven and so complemented the elements of the world below heaven.

Thus the archetypes of both Western aether and Eastern Qi both filled similar needs in the Western and Eastern narratives as a universal medium for microscopic action. There must be something to fill space since a truly empty void seemed incomprehensible. In order to move, there must be something to push against like walking on ground and so light’s motion must push against aether. Although mainstream science avoids the aether or Qi narratives, science narratives do now fill space with vacuum oscillators and Higgs bosons. Light, you see, moves by hopping through space by means of a large number of vacuum oscillators and so Newton’s aether has returned to science. While mainstream science well accepts the different notions of discrete vacuum oscillators and Higgs bosons, there is no corresponding notion yet like discrete aether action.

Aether action has precursors and outcomes for change and so aether action represents a causal set of precursors and outcomes without space and time. Instead of filling the universe with an infinity of vacuum oscillators as a basis for change, the universe of aether action is a finite causal set of aether actions. Instead of matter and light existing in space and time, space and time emerge from the precursors and outcomes of matter action.

Mainstream science accepts gravity relativity even though gravity relativity is not consistent with the quantum charge narrative of discrete action. This inconsistency is because gravity relativity depends on the existence of continuous space and time independent from matter and action. The matter action of gravity relativity shapes space and time while quantum matter action does not affect space and time at all. In fact, precursors and outcomes of quantum matter action do not depend on either space or time.

Thus, space and time are not consistent with any kind of unification of gravity and charge, but rather unification is only possible with the conjugate dimensions of matter and action instead of space and time. Discrete matter and action along with quantum phase then represent the changes with both gravity and charge and so quantum aether action is a narrative that does unify gravity and charge. Quantum aether action does mean that there is an important distinction between the slow changes of the universe and the very fast changes of atoms. While the very slow changes in the universe represent quantum gravity as biphoton exchange, the very fast changes of atoms represent quantum charge as single photon exchange.

In space and time, the speed of light limits the fast changes of charge action and the progressive galaxy red shifts represent the very slow changes of gravity in an expanding universe. Light is made up of particles of pure aether phase whose frequency is proportional to energy with the Planck constant and therefore proportional to matter with the speed of light squared. In addition, electrons and protons are also made up of particles of pure aether action, aether that was frozen at creation into the atoms of existing matter.

The limit of discrete matter action for fast change is an action constant, h_ae=h/c², the matter scaled Planck constant along with the limit of matter as the smallest particle, m_ae, aether. Once again, progressive galaxy red shifts represent the very slow changes of gravity in a shrinking universe. The aether particle is that fraction of the hydrogen atom stabilization that is due to gravity and aether is slowly decaying just as hydrogen stabilization grows. Both of the matter action constants are then also space time constants, but mainstream science has a plethora of other constants as well. For example, proton and electron masses are both space time constants, but simply emerge from the discrete matter action nature of the universe collapse. The aether period, T_ae=h_ae/m_ae, is 13.4 Byr and is simply the antiverse/universe pulse period and therefore also the time width of every aether particle. Thus the mass of the aether particle and the size of the universe determine the stabilization energy of the hydrogen atom.

The time width of atomic action is the period of electron spin, which emerges from the spiral collapse of aether at creation into electrons and protons. Electron and proton masses both emerged when force growth from matter collapse stabilized hydrogen at creation by freezing a very small fraction of total aether into observable matter at creation. The first light of creation continues to bathe us in the warm glow of the cosmic microwave background of deep space that completely surrounds us.

Photons are the glue that binds the universe together with matter, action, and phase. A photon is an aether time pulse with a spectrum of frequencies and phases. Each photon has a matter spectrum that comes from the action of atomic matter as an action through space and time. A photon frequency spectrum emerges from its matter spectrum along with a polarization or spin = +/-1. A single photon polarization can be linear, circular, elliptical, or anywhere in between and even unpolarized. However, an unpolarized single photon still has the property of polarization or spin as a random superposition of phases.

An electron binds with a proton to stabilize a hydrogen atom by the exchange of a binding photon and complementary emission of another photon. The electron and proton each have polarization or spin = ½ and so an electron spin can exist as +½ or -½ or anywhere in between and even unpolarized, just like a photon. In fact, the hydrogen atom has a spin = 1, but now as -1, 0, +1 and unlike a photon, has a spin = 0 state when the electron and proton spins are antiparallel.

Each hydrogen atom bonding photon has a complementary emitted photon from its CMB creation. The complementary emitted photon is what binds the hydrogen atom to the universe and represents gravity as well as the size of the universe at creation. The gravity biphoton or graviton has a spin = 2 and complementary graviton exchange is the bond of quantum gravity. Each graviton particle mass is a very small fraction, 1e-39, of the stabilization mass of hydrogen scaled with the size of the universe.

While a single photon has both matter and action spectra, a graviton exchange is always complementary. This is because a quantum graviton exchange is always a superposition of complementary action spectra from its biphoton complements that always result in a single mass and not in a mass spectrum. This means that the graviton as a biphoton exchange is not subject to the same quantum uncertainty principle as a single photon.

Thus, the matter action of quantum gravity exchange shows the symmetry of monopoles and quadrupoles instead of the asymmetry of single photon dipoles. This means that quantum gravity matter and action are antiparallel and so anticommute in contrast to quantum charge matter and action, which are orthogonal and so do not commute at all. While both space and time emerge from the action spectra of quantum charge, the null action spectra of quantum gravity are always complementary. It is ironic, then, that it is atomic quantum matter action that shapes space and time and so quantum graviton exchange simply conforms to the space and time of quantum charge.

Gravity relativity shapes space and time because increasing velocity dilates space and time. In gravity relativity, there is no absolute space and time, only relative space and time. Because light is an oscillation from which space and time emerge, the speed of light does not depend on relative velocity. However, matter and action do both increase with increasing relative velocity. So increasing velocity actually emerges from increasing matter and action. Impulse in space and time comes from the release of potential energy as kinetic energy, and so impulse emerges from the quantum matter action of potential matter becoming kinetic matter.

In matter action, Newton’s aether returns with a narrative of discrete quantum matter action for our very, very large but finite universe. Matter action shows gravity relativity as a consequence of the light emitted at creation subsequent biphoton or quantum graviton exchange. Matter action also shows quantum charge as a consequence of single photon exchange consistent with mainstream science. Since the standard model of nuclear physics is already consistent with quantum charge, matter action is now a completely consistent narrative for physical reality.

Random versus Quantum Noise

Random noise is a very important and yet unknowable part of physical reality that we usually simply take for granted. However, all random noise is actually inherently quantum and not classical at all. A classical coin toss, for example, results in a random landing of heads or tails because it is otherwise impossible to predict the outcomes of a hand-tossed coin. A hand coin toss is therefore officially accepted as random by the highest levels in sports and government...and even science. A classical coin toss will resolve a tied political election, for example, or the selection of sides in a football game and a coin toss is a measure of random noise in science. Thus, random noise is the ultimate arbiter of choice when two sides cannot otherwise agree and that includes the two halves of every brain.

However, determinist logic argues that even a random result is actually the product of a determinate big-bang creation and so there really are no truly random events in destiny, merely chaotic events. Thus the classical outcome of a coin toss is determinate and a mere function of precursors albeit subject to the random noise of classical chaos. So classical science accepts the unpredictable outcomes of random noise like a coin toss, since a large number of classical events means classical chaos determines an outcome from precursors. Classical noise, you see, is just something random and unpredictable that happens without any reason despite our classical determinate universe.

Unpredictable outcomes in the quantum universe, in contrast to classical chaos, are due to superposition and entanglement of precursor quantum phase. Thus quantum phase noise is always the actual source of even classical noise since classical chaos is simply due to a large number of similar repeated actions. While a single classical action like a single flip precursor has a very predictable outcome, a coin toss drives from highly variable neural actions of the thumb and fingers to a random outcome. Thus all random noise is inherently quantum and not classical after all...

Classical versus Quantum Coin Toss

The outcome of a classical coin toss is a classically random outcome of heads or tails. However, it is classically possible to measure the actions of a classical coin toss to an arbitrary precision and therefore it is possible to predict a classical coin toss, despite chaos.

A quantum coin, though, has one more attribute besides heads and tails and that is quantum phase. With quantum phase, the coin can still exist as heads or tails, but the quantum coin can also exist as a superposition of both heads and tails. There is no role for quantum phase or superposition in a classical coin toss. A classical coin toss begins with either heads or tails up and then executes a number of flips according to the person or mechanism doing the flipping and then lands either heads or tails up. Classically it is then possible to precisely measure all of those classical actions and therefore to predict a classical outcome to arbitrary precision.

However, any large number of classical actions necessarily entangle some quantum actions as well. This is because the microscopic universe is quantum and uncertain, not classical. A dephased quantum coin in flight will persist in a microscopic superposition until the macroscopic coin lands as heads or tails. Unlike the precise classical measurements that can predict a classical coin toss, there are no measurements that will predict the outcome of a quantum coin toss from a superposition state better than 50%.

In fact, there is really no such thing as a classical coin toss in our quantum world. Instead, a large number of classical macroscopic actions like a flipping coin will ultimately access many microscopic quantum outcomes of quantum phase noise. The classical random noise of chaos is just a convenient macroscopic archetype for the underlying microscopic quantum phase noise of physical reality.

Note that not only the quantum coin exists as a superposition, the quantum actions of starting, flipping, and landing also exist as superpositions with quantum phase. A large number of actions like flipping or neural impulses will also entangle quantum phase noise and therefore be subject to the limits of uncertainty of quantum knowledge. The fact that we cannot therefore ever precisely know a precursor feeling or precisely predict an outcome feeling gives us the archetypes of free will and free choice...

Classical versus Quantum Photons

Einstein was the first to explain the electric impulses of the photoelectric effect as a quantum consequence of single photons in 1905. Although Planck had some years earlier in 1900 proposed the notion of a quantum of light to explain the nature of blackbody emission, it was Einstein who first recognized the quantum nature of light photons as particles in the photoelectric effect. Light made up of finite photon particles instead of the classical determinism of infinitely divisible light waves birthed the uncertainty of discrete quantum mechanics.

Classical physics had long accepted the notion of light as an infinitely divisible wave and then quickly adapted to the semiclassical notion of light as a large number of single photons or electromagnetic pulses in time and space. However, even such a semiclassical photon of light shows the uncertainty principle and so photons are not subject to classical determinism. Rather, a single quantum photon obeys the quantum uncertainty of superposition of many paths, polarizations, and energies. Specifically, while classical determinism argues that a classical single photon particle can only be on one path at a time with well-defined polarization, frequency, and location and all simultaneously knowable to arbitrary precision.

The single quantum photon exists instead with an uncertain outcome as a superposition of paths, polarizations, and frequencies. As a result, there is a well-defined limit to the precision of any simultaneous single photon measurement of path, polarization, and frequency. Nevertheless, many of the semiclassical notions of a photon survive and result in much quantum confusion that precludes determinate outcomes.

Photon exchange is the basic quantum glue that bonds all matter together and photon exchange is what bonds both charge and gravity matter. The outcome of a photon precursor is a quantum bonding state between emitter and absorber matter. While single photon exchange bonds charge matter by exchange and complementary ephoton mission, biphoton exchange bonds gravity matter by the complementary exchange and emission of biphotons.

A photon is an electromagnetic pulse that has a spectrum of frequencies in its Fourier transform. This fundamental relation between time and frequency is the foundation of the uncertainty principle. A short pulse of light is made up of a broad frequency spectrum and a long pulse of light is made up of a correspondingly very narrow spectrum. Thus a photon is a fundamentally quantum object that can nevertheless behave like a classical particle of matter under certain conditions. A classical particle of matter has a well defined path, mass, polarization, and location and a particle of matter can behave like a photon under certain conditions as well.

A charge bond is a photon exchange with complementary emitted photons since it is necessary to lose heat to bond charges. A gravity bond is a biphoton exchange that also has a complementary emitted biphoton since it is also necessary to lose heat to bond gravity matter. As a result of quantum gravity, atomic hydrogen can exist as a cold vacuum lattice cloud. As the cloud density grows with more and more cold hydrogen, eventually molecular hydrogen forms and the lattice spacing decreases until it nucleates. At this point, there is a transition from gravity to charge dispersion and nascent stellar binary nucleates condense with orthogonal spins. One-half of the cloud lattice collapses into one spin while the other half collapses into the orthogonal spin.

Quantum gravity bonds form and emit heat in a concerted spiral of condensation in the nuclei of molecular clouds. However, quantum gravity biphotons are 1e-39 less than quantum charge photon and so represent a virtual continuum of spiral states with orthogonal spins. While one spin condenses with like spins into one spiral, the orthogonal spin condenses with complementary spins into the complementary spiral of a stellar binary. It is important that the stellar nuclei continue to lose heat as the molecular cloud collapses with radial accretion. Heat loss occurs from hot axial jets that result from the cold radial accretion until fusion eventually ignites the stellar nuclei into nascent stars.

Once again, there is really no such thing as a classical photon because a photon is a pure quantum manifestation. Complementary to an atom as a discrete quantum of matter that is a superposition of electrons and protons, a photon is a discrete electromagnetic quantum that is a superposition of frequencies, polarizations, paths, and locations. However, there are various semiclassical simplifications for a photon that people find useful in certain contexts just as there are for atoms. For example, a simplified semiclassical photon may have a single frequency even though a quantum photon is always a spectrum of frequencies and never a single frequency.

A semiclassical single photon may have a single polarization state  even though a quantum photon is always in a superposition of polarizations. A polarized photon will pass an aligned polarizer, which then reflects other polarizations. In contrast, a single quantum photon always exists in a superposition of polarization states until interacting with a polarizer to form a probabilistic polarization for each single quantum photon. Thus a single quantum photon may not have a well-defined polarization state before it interacts with the electrons of a polarizer. Note that a linear polarized single quantum photon is still a superposition of right and left circular polarizations.

A semiclassical single photon has a well-defined pulse path and location and cannot be in two places at the same time. However, a quantum single photon exists as a probabilistic superposition of all locations in the universe. At any given moment, that single quantum photon can exist as any number of paths and locations with various probabilities.

A semiclassical single photon still has a well defined frequency distribution and phase called a spectrum. A semiclassical photon spectrum exists as a Fourier transform of its time pulse and so the photon spectrum relates the time pulse and frequency. A quantum single photon is a superposition of frequencies and phases that are its spectrum and the Fourier transform relates photon pulse and spectrum. The quantum photon spectrum and pulse relationship is the quantum uncertainty principle between time and frequency.

Classically, there is no limit to the precision of simultaneous measurement of a particle momentum and location. A photon, however, has a discrete quantum limit to the precision of simultaneous measurements of both photon frequency and location. As a result, the more localized the photon, the broader the frequency spectrum becomes and eventually, the light wavelength exceeds the apparatus size. At that point, the measurement becomes meaningless.

Likewise, a semiclassical photon may have a well defined average location in time, but a quantum photon is always a distribution of locations, never a single location. A semiclassical photon may have a well-defined single path, but a quantum photon always exists on a distribution of paths, never just a single path. Moreover, matter has the complementary quantum properties of light.

Matter has a well-defined average location in time and matter is stationary while light only moves at a constant speed. Matter also oscillates complementary to light with a distribution of frequencies and also has a distribution of locations about an average location. An atom of matter has an average mass or frequency, but matter is also a distribution of masses about that average mass. While there are fundamental particles with very well-defined rest masses, quantum particles really only have inertial mass complementary to light. Rest mass just represents a particle’s interaction with other matter, which photons of course mediate.

Finally, classical matter has a well-defined average path, but quantum particles exist on a distribution of paths. However, upon interaction with other matter, any such distribution decays very quickly into the one path that we call our rest frame reality.