This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“it is becoming ever more evident
that unconscious matter cannot produce consciousness, while conscious entities
can produce phenomena that behave like unconscious matter. “More” cannot come out of “less,” though the
opposite is clearly possible. Crucially,
when consciousness and free will are irreducible properties of nature, the
evolution of the physical universe can no longer be the work of a “blind
watchmaker,” but the result of cooperating and intelligent conscious entities
that have always existed and are the ultimate cause of the universe’s eternal
becoming.” – Federico Faggin, Chapter Preface, Page 15
“Reductionism has allowed us to build remarkably complex
machines, but these are far from resembling living organisms. In a computer, the hardware is fixed and
separate from the software. In a cell,
hardware changes all the time and software does not exist apart from it. The only area in which there is some
similarity with a computer is in the coding DNA, which, however,
represents only 1.5% of all human DNA.
In a cell, everything is dynamical and interacting through live information,
not only within the cell itself but also in the cell’s interactions with the
environment. Therefore, the classical
distinctions valid for computers are not applicable to living cells, and the
same goes for the brain.” – Federico Faggin, Chapter 5: The Concept of
Information Extended, Page 88
“Living organisms should therefore be interpreted as extremely complex organizations of live symbols representing the ever-growing self-knowing of the seities. A living organism is both quantum and classical and can “host” the consciousness and free will of a quantum seity because the seity can communicate directly with the body using live information.” – Federico Faggin, Chapter 9: A New Model of Reality Page 156
Is This An Overview?
There are limits to quantum and classical physics. Even math has limits in representing
reality. Reductionism has enabled
development of mechanisms, such as computers, for which hardware and software
are fixed and separate. But life
contains properties that cannot be reduced to their individual properties, for
which hardware and software are not separate, such as cells. A subject that can learn and adapt to
internal and external reality, which is representative of free will. What has been missing from previous
understandings, is consciousness. While
conscious entities can develop phenomena that behave like unconscious matter,
unconscious matter cannot produce consciousness. Consciousness is a property of nature that is
irreducible.
Caveats?
The book can be difficult to read. Part of the difficulty derives from the
author trying to explain a novel concept.
Another part of the difficulty derives from the various
multidisciplinary jargon used to express the ideas.
