The Nexus of Being: A Transdisciplinary Exploration of Human Consciousness, Systems, and the Universe
Martin Ciupa
AI Entrepreneur. Keynote Speaker, Interests in: AI/Cybernetics, Physics, Consciousness Studies/Neuroscience, Philosophy: Ethics/Ontology/Maths/Science. Life and Love.
The Nexus of Being: A Transdisciplinary Exploration of Human Consciousness, Systems, and the Universe
Abstract
This paper explores the intersection of philosophy, neuroscience, cybernetics, physics, and artificial intelligence to understand mankind’s experience of being in the universe. Philosophy provides the existential framework, neuroscience examines the biological foundations of consciousness, cybernetics models the interactions between individuals and their environment, and physics grounds these phenomena within universal laws. AI expands the scope of cognition and challenges traditional boundaries of consciousness. Ronald Cicurel’s Brain-Centric Theory further emphasizes the brain’s central role in consciousness. Together, these disciplines offer a comprehensive, transdisciplinary approach to understanding human existence as an emergent, interconnected phenomenon within the cosmos.
Keywords
• Transdisciplinary studies
• Consciousness
• Philosophy of existence
• Neuroscience of mind
• Cybernetics and feedback systems
• Physics and universal laws
• Panpsychism/Cosmopsychism
• Artificial intelligence and cognition
• Brain-Centric Theory
• Human experience
• Systems theory
• Emergent phenomena
Introduction
The human experience of being in the universe is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, one that transcends the boundaries of individual academic disciplines. This paper seeks to explore this experience through a transdisciplinary lens, integrating insights from philosophy, neuroscience, cybernetics, physics, and artificial intelligence. By examining how these fields intersect, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of consciousness, existence, and the systems that govern both human interaction and the cosmos itself. This inquiry reveals the interconnectedness of subjective awareness and the objective structures that shape our reality.
1. Philosophy: The “Why” of Existence
Philosophy is the foundation of this transdisciplinary inquiry, exploring fundamental questions of human existence. It focuses on meaning, purpose, and our relationship with the universe. By addressing metaphysical and ontological concerns, philosophy provides the framework within which human experiences and consciousness are examined. This domain challenges us to consider why we exist and how we fit into the broader fabric of the universe, guiding scientific inquiries toward a deeper understanding of being.
Philosophy’s inquiry into the nature of being helps define the existential goals that neuroscience and cybernetics attempt to model, and physics tries to ground in the fabric of reality (Chalmers, 1996). It emphasizes the subjective experience and forces us to consider how reality is interpreted and constructed by human minds, leading into the study of consciousness itself.
2. Consciousness: The Nature of Awareness
Consciousness is the subjective aspect of human experience. It’s what allows us to perceive, interpret, and experience the universe, making it central to understanding our place within it. This phenomenon bridges the gap between abstract philosophical inquiry and scientific investigation (Koch, 2004). The study of consciousness seeks to define what it means to be aware, to perceive the self as distinct from the external world, and to experience reality as an individual.
The nature of consciousness, long debated in philosophy, becomes the focus of empirical investigation in neuroscience. Consciousness is the medium through which humans interact with and understand the universe, and it informs how we process information, make decisions, and reflect on existence.
3. Neuroscience: The Biological Foundation
Neuroscience provides the biological basis for consciousness, exploring how neurons, synapses, and various brain regions contribute to the experience of being (Koch, 2004). It examines how electrical and chemical signals within the brain produce thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences, grounding the study of consciousness in physical processes. Neuroscience allows us to connect subjective experience to measurable brain activity, revealing how external reality is processed and experienced internally.
Through its detailed study of brain mechanisms, neuroscience offers insights into how consciousness emerges from the material substrate, making it an essential bridge between subjective philosophy and objective science. This field also explores the brain’s adaptive capacities and how it evolves through learning and interaction, linking it with the dynamic systems approach of cybernetics.
4. Cybernetics: The Systemic Interaction
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Cybernetics, the study of systems, control, and communication, provides a model for how human beings interact with their environment through feedback loops (Wiener, 1948). It emphasizes the interconnectedness of organisms and their surroundings, focusing on how these systems regulate themselves, adapt, and evolve. In the context of human experience, cybernetics explains how sensory information is processed, decisions are made, and behaviors are adjusted based on external stimuli.
Cybernetics bridges the internal experience of consciousness with the external world, offering a functional model for understanding human existence. It highlights the fluidity of human-environment interaction, demonstrating how individuals are both shaped by and shape their surroundings through continuous feedback. This dynamic view of human experience offers a more integrated perspective, complementing the insights provided by neuroscience and physics.
5. Physics: The Universal Laws
Physics provides the fundamental laws governing the universe, laying the foundation for all other disciplines in this inquiry. It explains the principles that govern matter, energy, space, and time, defining the physical boundaries within which consciousness, life, and systems operate (Hawking & Mlodinow, 2010). From the quantum level to the cosmic scale, physics offers a detailed understanding of the mechanisms through which reality functions, grounding abstract concepts of existence in measurable phenomena.
Indeed there’s speculation about phyocal panpsychism, the view that consciousness or mind is a fundamental aspect of the universe, present even at the smallest levels of matter. Cosmopsychism, a related idea, suggests that the universe as a whole has a form of consciousness, with individual minds being fragments or aspects of this larger cosmic mind. Both ideas explore the relationship between mind, matter, and the nature of existence on a universal scale.
The study of physics connects human experience with the larger workings of the universe, explaining how the same laws that govern galaxies also apply to the neural activity in our brains and the systems modeled by cybernetics. By understanding the physical laws of the universe, we can better understand the context in which human experience occurs, tying together the subjective and the objective aspects of existence.
6. Artificial Intelligence: Expanding Consciousness and Systems
Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a new dimension to the study of human experience by simulating cognitive processes and extending human capacities. AI systems mimic neural networks and perform complex computations that challenge traditional notions of consciousness and learning (Russell & Norvig, 2021). AI intersects with neuroscience by modeling brain processes and with cybernetics through its ability to create self-regulating systems. As AI continues to evolve, it forces us to reconsider the boundaries of consciousness and intelligence, potentially offering new ways to understand both human and artificial experiences of reality.
AI challenges philosophical inquiries into the nature of mind and agency, as machines increasingly perform tasks that were once thought to require human-like thought. This creates an intersection of philosophy, neuroscience, cybernetics, and physics, as AI functions within the physical laws of the universe, processes biological-like information, and interacts with environments through cybernetic feedback systems.
7. Brain-Centric Theory: Centralizing Consciousness in the Brain
Adding to these frameworks, Ronald Cicurel’s Brain-Centric Theory Brain-centrism asserts that our mental representations cannot be what is “out there.” What we perceive is our mental reactions to the external world. Because no one has ever observed “out there” with non-human eyes and a non-human brain, brain-centrism asserts that our scientific “third. party” descriptions are merely sophisticated “first party” descriptions with error corrections. The information we collect from “out there” is only data, the reality built on these data is a brain construct. This Kantian-like paradigm has numerous consequences in the interpretation of science, mathematics but also in day-to-day life.Brain-centric is divided into three parts:The first part is dedicated to an analysis of the mental space, perception mechanism, mental representations, and emotions. It also analyzes the role of language and information in the operations of our mental space and introduces the notion of Gödelian information, previously presented in the monograph The Relativistic Brain.. .
Conclusion: The Unified Thesis
In uniting philosophy, neuroscience, cybernetics, physics, AI, and Brain-Centric Theory, we form a comprehensive transdisciplinary understanding of mankind’s experience in the universe. Philosophy provides the existential questions, while neuroscience offers insights into the biological mechanisms that produce consciousness. Cybernetics models the interactions between individuals and their environments, and physics establishes the universal laws governing these phenomena. AI expands the horizons of intelligence and perception, and Cicurel’s Brain-Centric Theory emphasizes the central role of the brain in building our perception of the world in its mental work-space.
Together, these disciplines challenge and expand our understanding of what it means to be human, offering a holistic view of human experience.
The resulting thesis is that human experience is an emergent property of complex systems, grounded in both the tangible and the abstract, the biological and the philosophical, all interconnected by the universal principles that define our existence.
References with URLs
1. Chalmers, D. J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory. Oxford University Press.
2. Koch, C. (2004). The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach. Roberts & Co.
3. Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. MIT Press.
4. Hawking, S., & Mlodinow, L. (2010). The Grand Design. Bantam Books.
5. Russell, S., & Norvig, P. (2021). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (4th ed.). Pearson.
6. Cicurel, R. (2021). Brain-Centric: How the Mental Space Builds Our Realities. Independently Published.
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2moOwner @ Webicom, Inc. | Generative AI, New Business Development
2moAnd non-human life, at intersections in the other dimensions that exist…
Owner @ Webicom, Inc. | Generative AI, New Business Development
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