Shadow Emergence

There is perhaps another form of [[Emergence|emergence]] which doesn't
fit into the traditional categories of weak and strong
emergence: "imaginary" or "shadow" emergence. It is
comparable to strong [[Emergence|emergence]], and describes the
appearance of a new completely new [[System|system]]. Yet only
the image or shadow of the system appears, an image
without source or shadow without object. Shadow emergence
describes the appearance of a new system embedded in an
old one, which is so strongly connected to the old system
that it can not be isolated from it. It could also be
named `false'-, `pseudo'- or `quasi'-emergence. The mind,
[[Self-Consciousness|self-consciousness]] and the [[Self|"self"]] 
belong probably into this category.

How is it possible that a mental substance arise out of
physical substance, how can neurons and interactions
between neurons give rise to something completely
different which "hovers" over the brain? This question
has kept philosophers busy since the middle ages. The
answer is: it is not possible in the way our brains
are designed, and there is no such thing as a mental
substance. There is only a shadow, something which
we can describe with a kind of projection. Mental
substances such as ghosts and spirits are projections
from one world to another, imaginary items which exist
only in our imagination. The "self" is a projection,
an illusion, a belief, an imaginary concept.

We see the universe and ourselves through our own lens,
and our brains learn from the beginning to treat
everything we encounter as a person or human, including
ourselves. Yet, as Steven Pinker has noticed, "the
intuitive feeling that there's an executive `I' that
sits in a control room of our brain, scanning the screens
of the senses and pushing the buttons of the muscles,
is an illusion." Although we have the feeling of
peering out at the world from the control room behind
our eyes, the self in the control room is only an
illusion, a projection from the physical to the mental
realm. 100 billion jabbering and flickering neurons
create for each of us the illusion that one exist and
is here. The imaginary idea of a "mental" self comes
as close as possible to a real entity, without being
real. It appears to be real and independent from the
system where it emerged, but it is neither real nor
independent from the system.

There is of course something which is responsible for
our actions and our behavior. It is the whole brain
with its myriads of neurons, synapses and connections.
Steven Pinker puts it like this: "consciousness turns
out to consist of a maelstrom of events distributed
across the brain. These events compete for attention,
and as one process outshouts the others, the brain
rationalizes the outcome after the fact and concocts
the impression that a single self was in charge all
along." If we could seperate the hardware form the
software in the brain (the many Exabytes of code and
data which specify how many neurons exist and how they
are connected), then one could argue that the software
as a whole is the mind or the self - the whole software
system including the maelstrom of events and the whirl
of information produced by it - however distributed,
dispersed, and diffuse it may be. Unfortunately, both
are intrinsically and inseparably tied to each together,
and there is no distinction between hardware and software
in the brain. If we compare the situation to hardware
and software, the brain is like a giant system where the
hardware has evolved to emulate a whole new computer system,
including hardware and software. The system recognizes
itself and feels that it is more than just hardware.
Yet the software cannot be isolated or transfered to
another computer because it is hard-coded and hard-wired
into the system, it is a fixed part of the hardware.

Shadow emergence is strong emergence without an explicit
[[Code|code]] or compiler, similar to hard-coded software. It
is like a image, shadow or statue of a living thing,
although the living thing itself is not there (and has
never existed). It is the imitation or anticipation
of strong emergence where one special instance of
the new system is mirrored in the structure of the
old system. A new system which is embedded and
hard-coded in an old one, without specifying the
code or compiler.

In Ray Bradbury's words we are "too soon from the cave,
too far from the stars". Just as we cannot leave the
earth to explore interplanetary space (contrary to
machines and robots), we cannot leave our body, although
we feel we are more than just a piece of meat. All we
can do is making small hops in the near atmosphere,
and small hops into virtual worlds as they could be.
Although we would like to leave and surpass our body,
we cannot. Although we don't exist, we feel we do.
This tragic illusion would only be true if there were a
distinction between hardware and software in the brain.
Our selfs disappear with their bodies, and when the
brain disintegrates, the mind vanishes, too. In the
words of Steven Pinker, "when the physiological activity
of the brain ceases, as far as anyone can tell the
person's consciousness goes out of existence [...]
Every moment of consciousness is a precious and
fragile gift."

(the quotes from Steven Pinker are from his article
[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1580394,00.html The mystery of consciousness], Time Feb. 12 (2007))

--[[User:Jfromm|Jfromm]] 20:47, 23 July 2008 (GMT)

== Links ==

* Blog entry for [http://blog.cas-group.net/2009/06/the-ghost-in-the-machine/ The Ghost in the Machine]

[[Category:Consciousness]]