Expert: Philip A. Stahl - 7/8/2008

Question
Hi Philip,

I've been reading some of your past answers here. And I've come across something that quite intrigued me: in one of your answers you had mentioned about the possibility of an impersonal afterlife once our brain quantum waves are released. Could you please explain this a bit ?

Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hello,

Well, this is some pretty heady stuff - and much of it is obscure (if one has not been exposed to quantum mechanics) but let me see what I can do.

Take neuronal assemblies (which make up discrete regions in the brain) and note that uncertainty principle limitations applied to calcium ion capture near synapses shows they (calcium ions) must be represented by a probability function. (This function may be described from quantum mechanics).

E.g. PSI(X,Y,Z, t) in conventional space-time form.

Thus brain dynamics and function is contingent upon the neuron and its connections to synapses. Thus we want networks that invoke the above PSI function and Pauli spin operators as effective gates.

Consider a sub-complex of 1,000 neurons. Labeled A1, A2..........A_n.

Application of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle to Ca+2 ions (at body temperature) discloses the associated wave packet dimension increases to many times the size of the ion itself. Any classical Newtonian trajectory is therefore inapplicable and irrelevant. (See also, 'Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics', by Henry Stapp).

Thus we can represent the ion uptake superposition as a separate contributor to the aggregate (sub-complex) or neuronal assembly:

PSI (A1....A_n) + PSI(Ca+2)

in other words, a superposition of wave functions, with each wave function consisting of a wave packet and each wave packet consisting of DE BROGLIE WAVES.

The preceding formulation, based on standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, discloses that a non-local aspect of brain function is possible.

Since quantum superpositions can also link fields, e.g. electrical in the brain, then it is possible for these fields to also exist outside the brain's immediate physical dominion.

Now, as a field basis for brain phenomena we can refer to the paper, 'Soliton Model Of Einstein’s Nadelstrahlung in Real Physical Maxwell Waves', Nuovo Cimento, Vol. 35, No. 8, 1982.

Let an assembly of neurons (A_n) then be described by a P-wave packet (pilot wave packet comprised of an ensemble of de Broglie waves or B-waves)

A_n = @exp [iS/ h-bar]

where @ is the vector density and S a common phase for the P-waves. Then the assembly A_n moves with a group velocity v = df/(d(1/L) where f is the group frequency and L the wavelength.

A_n must also satisfy:

[A_n - (m^2 c^2/ h-bar^2) A_n = 0

(REM: h-bar = h/ 2 pi, where h is Planck’s constant or ~ 6.62 x 10^-34 J-s)

One solution of the preceding can be shown to be:

A_n (b) = @ exp[2 pi (1i) [ft – (x/L) + theta]]

where f is frequency, t is time, L is wavelength and x is position in direction of wave propagation. Theta is the phase angle. (For generality, one can assume theta = 2 pi)

These vector waves would have a superluminal velocity. But to put it in terms more apropos of David Bohm's Stochastic QM concept - we instead say that the waves interconnect with particles at a higher dimensional level.

The point? At death, these p-wave packets can escape their associated particles, and act like very finely scaled EM waves. The waves also exhibit a similar form to propagating electro-magnetic waves, e.g.

E(x, t) = E_o exp [i(kx – wt]) (j)

B(x,t) = B_o exp [i(kx – wt]) (k)

j, k directional unit vectors.

or, re-writing the factor of the electric, magnetic amplitudes, E_o, B_o (since: exp (ix) = cos (x)- i sin(x)):

E (x,t) = E_o cos (kx – wt) – i[sin (kx – wt)] (j)

B(x,t) = B_o cos (kx – wt) – i[sin (kx – wt)] (k)


where k = 2 pi/ L is wave number vector, x is displacement in wave propagation, w is angular frequency (w = 2 pi f), t is time.

This shows that consciousness can feasibly be embodied in B-, P-wave packets and act like a transmitted electro-magnetic wave.

(For details on how the field equations of electro-magnetic theory can be directly linked to QM and possible residual consciousness, see: Stochastic Interpretations of Nonrelativistic Quantum Theory, by B.H. Lavenda and E. Santamato, in International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 23, No. 7, 1984, pp. 601-60


What would such consciousness be like? Well, it would be absent of any ego, personality or individuality. Indeed, some would perhaps not even regard it as consciousness because of the nonlocal aspect. Perhaps the only thing one would be aware of is that one "is". One could perhaps say, "I am" but in a most diffuse, and amorphous sense.

Make no mistake here that none of this is to be confused with any Christian form or account of an afterlife! And also, it follows on from what the great English Atheist Sir A.J. Ayer once said: "Just as there can be a godless life, so also could there be a godless afterlife".

Thus, the impersonal quantum post-life consciousness is predicated entirely on physical assumptions, there is no "supernatural" component.

Finally, let me again emphasize the highly speculative nature of all this. Also, to add that my own (current) conviction - in the absence of the evidence or proof for the physical reality of de Broglie waves- is that we simply cease to exist at all at death.

Hope this helps, but if you need some further clarification, just send a follow-up!