Carl Gustav Jung proposed that there was a collective unconscious that all human beings share in and that this explained the universality of the interpretation of symbols and also how scientific breakthroughs seem to come in bunches as if "their time has come".
If his theories are true, then our brains are not self-contained units but are, in fact, like "radio receivers" for this shared consciousness.
While we can demonstrate that, at some level, this collective consciousness actually exists, the mechanism of its reception as a neurological/biological process, eludes us.
It could be that our consciousness is the way it is because it arises out of the quantum states of the universe and that while we believe we are the source of or selves and our thoughts, it is actually the universe that defines us and our thoughts.
This would explain some of the apparent paradoxes that arise where consciousness appear to modify reality at a quantum level but an alternate possibility is that the quantum state of reality imposes only one particular path that governs our observation. We cannot observe otherwise because the universe makes us only observe one thing. Simply stated, our observation does not influence the universe, the universe influences our observation.
This would explain and be compatible with concepts like life after death. If our brain dies, our consciousness would still exist and would, most likely, seek an alternate mode of expression. We would most likely perceive this alternate expression as "reincarnated" memories. Similarly, any memories of disembodied existence would be seen as existence "in the spirit".
This idea is the basis of the Orch-OR theory (Wikipedia: Orch-OR)
I would theorize that the mechanism of reception of the collective unconscious is a quantum one and that there are mechanisms within the neuron cell, possibly within the microtubules, that seem too small to have a gross function effect on the neuron. However, if these components were all "tuning the same signal", then the accumulated weight of the data could potentially influence the electrical output within the neuron.
If the neurons are receiving quantum information and decoding consciousness from some substrate other than the brain, and specifically in the quantum realm, then the decoding of alternate realities is a possibility if multiple realities interact at quantum levels.
Quantum bits (QBits) have four possible states and the advantage of quantum computation is that a single calculation returns multiple answers that encapsulate all possible outcomes compliant with quantum physics. In this way, the answer will include solutions that not exist in this particular branch of reality, but are part of an alternate branch.
edit on 29/1/2012 by chr0naut because: (no reason given)
