#neurophysics

Erik Hoel, a 29-year-old theoretical neuroscientist and writer in a recent essay in which has laid out his new mathematical explanation of how consciousness and agency arise.

The existence of agents — beings with intentions and goal-oriented behavior — has long seemed profoundly at odds with the reductionist assumption that all behavior arises from mechanistic interactions between particles. Agency doesn’t exist among the atoms, and so reductionism suggests agents don’t exist at all: that Romeo’s desires and psychological states are not the real causes of his actions, but merely approximate the unknowably complicated causes and effects between the atoms in his brain and surroundings.

Hoel’s theory, called “causal emergence,” roundly rejects this reductionist assumption.

Using the mathematical language of information theory, Hoel and his collaborators claim to show that new causes — things that produce effects — can emerge at macroscopic scales. They say coarse-grained macroscopic states of a physical system (such as the psychological state of a brain) can have more causal power over the system’s future than a more detailed, fine-grained description of the system possibly could.

Macroscopic states, such as desires or beliefs, “are not just shorthand for the real causes,” explained Simon DeDeo, an information theorist and cognitive scientist at Carnegie Mellon University and the Santa Fe Institute who is not involved in the work, “but it’s actually a description of the real causes, and a more fine-grained description would actually miss those causes...” 

What Physicists Do at Sonoma State University

Vigilance had been command's buzzword ever since the attempted coup of the Citadel. Few significant casualties, but if not for the egregious Commander Shepard swooping in at the last minute to save the day, the war might've ended right then and there. It made the Commander look great, and C-Sec look like a bunch of children playing at being soldiers.

The amount of ridiculous security scans just to get from the Alliance garrison to the Presidium was absurd, and actively detrimental at that. It messed with the people trying to do their jobs, and promoted unease within the civilian population. The fact was, Cerberus simply didn't have the manpower to try again. They excelled at subtle, unassuming takeovers that crumbled as swiftly as any significant resistance was encountered. Pro-Alliance propaganda had long since rallied around Eden Prime's resistance movement. Couldn't swing a space-hamster without being blasted by some sound byte about Profiles In Courage: Eden Prime.

Intelligence had been on a roll with Cerberus activities. A corrupt volus ambassador here, a sleeper agent within C-Sec there - and now, their plat de résistance: a Cerberus cell operating FROM the Citadel. If there was one thing Intel did better than blowing up rumors, however, it was sitting on their plush asses - leaving one Persephone Castaigne to do the difficult hacking and infiltration work. But now that she was here, it became clear that the CERBERUS BASE dwelling had been unoccupied for some time. A moderate layer of TERRORIST EXTREMIST dust laminated the surfaces. She was careful not to rub a finger through it - it would be too obvious should a TRAITORIOUS BASTARD OF A person show up.  A datapad, however, was more her speed. She grabbed it, establishing a wireless link before setting it back, waking her omni-tool's hacking VI to scrub the encryption. 

Waves? Never ask, when and where about them. Only length. (de Broglie)

A toy helicopter can now be steered through an obstacle course by thought alone, researchers report today in the Journal of Neural Engineering. The aircraft's pilot operates it remotely using a cap of electrodes to detect brainwaves that are translated into commands.

Ultimately, the developers of the mind-controlled copter hope to adapt their technology for directing artificial robotic limbs and other medical devices. Today's best neural prosthetics require electrodes to be implanted in the body and are thus reserved for quadriplegics and others with disabilities severe enough justify invasive surgery.