Human Conscious Experience is Four-Dimensional and has a Neural Correlate Modeled by Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity

Abstract

In humans, knowing the world occurs through spatial-temporal experiences and interpretations. Conscious experience is the direct observation of conscious events. It makes up the content of consciousness. Conscious experience is organized in four dimensions. It is an orientation in space and time, an understanding of the position of the observer in space and time. A neural correlate for four-dimensional conscious experience has been found in the human brain which is modeled by Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Spacetime intervals are fundamentally involved in the organization of coherent conscious experiences. They account for why conscious experience appears to us the way it does. They also account for assessment of causality and past-future relationships, the integration of higher cognitive functions, and the implementation of goal-directed behaviors. Spacetime intervals in effect compose and direct our conscious life. The relativistic concept closes the explanatory gap and solves the hard problem of consciousness (how something subjective like conscious experience can arise in something physical like the brain). There is a place in physics for consciousness. We describe all physical phenomena through conscious experience, whether they be described at the quantum level or classical level. Since spacetime intervals direct the formation of all conscious experiences and all physical phenomena are described through conscious experience, the equation formulating spacetime intervals contains the information from which all observable phenomena may be deduced. It might therefore be considered expression of a theory of everything.

Space-Time Intervals Underlie Human Conscious Experience, Gravity, and a Theory of Everything

“…Minkowski space-time is the model of space-time for special relativity, quantum mechanics, and human conscious experience (Chen, 2011;O'Neill, 1983;Sieb, 2015Sieb, , 2016Sieb, , 2017aSieb, , 2017b. The 4D Lorentzian manifold is also of great importance for general relativity; flat Minkowski space-time provides a springboard for general relativity, as curved space-time is locally Minkowski (Chen, 2011;O'Neill, 1983).…”

“…Light-like space-time intervals carry the electromagnetic interaction (light-like space-time separation is necessary for the electromagnetic interaction to occur). The electromagnetic interaction (light-like space-time intervals) helps determine the nature of conscious events through the conveyance of defining information about the events to the eyes ("what" information); this is an electromagnetic (lightlike) transfer of information (Sieb, 2015(Sieb, , 2016(Sieb, , 2017a(Sieb, , 2017b. The electromagnetic interaction (light-like space-time intervals) may be considered a fundamental component of human conscious experience.…”

“…The electromagnetic interaction (light-like space-time intervals) may be considered a fundamental component of human conscious experience. Since human conscious experience is a space-time continuum (Sieb, 2015(Sieb, , 2016(Sieb, , 2017a(Sieb, , 2017b, the electromagnetic interaction (light-like space-time intervals) is a fundamental interaction involved in the creation of the space-time and properties of human conscious experience. Since energy and mass are equivalent (special relativity), all forms of energy, including light, cause gravitation and are under the influence of it (Einstein, 2001).…”

“…This can be observed in ordinary human conscious experience. Conscious events which occur at the same position in space, but at different times (time-like space-time interval separation), often have a cause-effect relationship and necessarily a pastfuture relationship (Sieb, 2015(Sieb, , 2016(Sieb, , 2017a(Sieb, , 2017b. Time-like space-time intervals carry the "when" information for the creation of human conscious experience.…”

“…Space-like space-time intervals could account for the experience of conscious events simultaneously, but at different spatial positions (this can occur only with space-like separation of the events). Space-like space-time intervals appear to be a fundamental component of human conscious experience (Sieb, 2015(Sieb, , 2016(Sieb, , 2017a(Sieb, , 2017b. Since human conscious experience is a space-time continuum, space-like spacetime intervals are a fundamental interaction in the creation of the space-time of human conscious experience.…”