Robert Karl Stonjek | Consciousness

https://stonjek.wordpress.com/

Consciousness

Quote | September 4, 2015

ThereisnoHawkingRadiation
Ikeeptellingpeoplethatonesecond(oranyinterval)elapsedattheeventhorizonisequaltoan
infiniteintervalatanypointinspaceaboveandbeyondtheeventhorizon(butsomepeopletryto
argueagainstthisanyway).
AlsoofnoteisthatHawkingradiationrequirestheradiatingeventstooccurbeforetheblackhole
forms.Thusablackholethatevaporatesawayneverexisted,buttheydontmentionthat.
Thewaythisisdescribedwestartatthevirtualparticleeventwhichoccursaftertheblackholehas
formed.Theantiparticletravelsbackintimeandannihilatesparticlethatwouldhavemadeupthe
blackholejustbeforeitforms(thisisthesolutiontotheTransPlanckianproblem).
Butwhenyouarraythisonatimelinetheannihilationeventoccursbeforetheblackholeformed.This
isignored.Causationcannotbereversed,asitistacitlyassumedinHawkingradiationietheidea
thatthevirtualparticleeventcausestheannihilationeventinthepast.Evenifthiswasthecase,the
annihilationeventwouldstillbeobservableinthepastwhentheannihilationeventoccurredandso
ifablackholeevaporatedthenanobserveratthatpointjustbeforetheblackholeformedwouldbe
abletoobservedthatannihilationeventandwouldthereforealsoobservethatnoblackholeformed.
ByplacinganobserveratthepointwhereHawkingradiationannihilatesBlackHoleformingparticles
wecanannihilateandfalsifyHawkingradiation.Thisisavalidobserver(notlikeanobserveratthe
eventhorizon,whichhasnotformedatthispoint).Whyhasntanyoneplacedanobserveratthat
pointbefore???
Notethatinphilosophyatimeparadoxisconsideredwherebyatimetravellercouldgobackintime
andkillhisgrandmother.HawkingRadiationistheidenticalprobleminphysicalform:theHawking
radiationgoesbackintimeandannihilatestheBlackHolethatinturncausedtheHawkingradiation.
Thephilosophicalconclusionisthattimetravelcannotoccurforthatreason.Cosmologyhasnt
caughtupwiththisbasiclogicasyet.PerhapsHawkingshouldcatchafewepisodesofDr.Who.
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Quote | September 4, 2015

ThereisnoMultiverse
Theflawinthemultiversemodelisthesimpleobservationthatfortheuniversetosplitintwo(for
instance)thematterenergyoftheuniversesuddenlydoubles.Weallowthisbeliefbecausewealso
thinkoftimeaslikemoments,sayseconds,inwhichentireuniversesexist.Inthiswayyoucould
travel to,forinstance,thepast andtherewould beanentireuniversethereincludingan earlier
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11/24/2015 5:14 PM

Robert Karl Stonjek | Consciousness

https://stonjek.wordpress.com/

versionofyourself(inthecaseofshorttemporalhops).
AslightlymoresensibleviewistheblockuniverseviewpopularinGRwheretimeisadimension
and therefore there is only ever one four dimensional universe and not a series of universes
separatedbytime.
Itisasimplestepfromourmanyuniversesintimetomanyuniversesinspace,butbothare
flawed.Thereisnopasttogobackto.Forstarterstheuniversedoesnothaveasingleuniversal
clock.Asplittingevent,suchasdescribedintheSchrdingerscatthoughtexperiment,isunlikelyto
occuratgreaterthanthespeedoflightandsothesplittingeventwouldtakearound60billionyears
toradiateoutfromthefocus,Schrdingerscatinthebox.
Themoresensibleviewisthemanyworldsinterpretationwhichonlyconsiderslocalsplittingwhere
twooutcomesoccursimultaneously,collapsingtojustoneoutcomeuponinteractionwiththeworld
beyondthatevent(egbybeingobserved).
Thisdoesnotrequireadditionalmassorenergybecausewhenwetracethehistoryoftheeventafter
ithasoccurred(afterthewavefunctioncollapses)thereisonlyonehistoryandnottwoinparallel.
Thesecondwayoflookingattheparallelconditionisthatratherthanconsideringthatthecatisboth
deadanalive(intheSchrdingerscatthoughtexperiment)onecanconsiderthatthecatisneither
deadoralive.
This alternative simply means that under conditions of complete isolation an event becomes
temporallyisolatedandthereforetimedoesnotproceedalongatimelineaswenormalexpectitto
butissimplysuspended(butnotfrozen,whichisastaterelativetoanotherclock)andthereforetime
relativetotheobserver(whichisisolated)equallyrunsforward,backward,fastandslow(ie,isnotat
allrelated).
Byanalogy,ifyouunplugyourTVthenitisequallynotshowingeverystationatonce.Howcanit
notdoeverystationsimultaneously?
ThedierencewithSchrdingerscatisthatwhentheisolationisbrokenthereistemporaldisparity
toresolve.Itisresolvedwithoutbreakinganyoftheregularlawsofphysicsexceptthatcausation
startsatthepointofcontact(whentheboxwasopened)andworksbackward,atleastthatishowit
occursasobservedfromoutsidethebox :)
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Quote | August 31, 2015

TravelandtheHippocampus
Herearesomelooseendsthatmayormaynottieup.Neurogenesisinthehippocampusisassociated
with depression. Antidepressants, especially SSRIs, are known to increase neurogenesis in the
hippocampus. There are memory problems associated with depression. The hippocampus is
responsiblefortheprocessofstorageoflongtermmemory.Somesingleneuronmemorytriggering
isknownforthisregionaswell.
I assume that the hippocampus does medium term memory and memory indexing, like the
speeddialofaphone.Thisislogicalsincethehippocampusmustholdinformationintendedforlong
termmemoryuntilitissuccessfullywritten(sotospeak)intolongtermmemory.Thusitisanatural
temporarymemorystorebutlongerthanshorttermorworkingmemorywhichiskeptcontinuously
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Robert Karl Stonjek | Consciousness

https://stonjek.wordpress.com/

liveoravailable.Amediumterm(twoorthreedays)isalogicaltemporarystoreaheadofwriting
(sleepisknowntoaidmemoryconsolidation).
Howwould/couldoneforcethehippocampusintoafrenzyofneurogenesis?Addinginformationat
muchgreaterthannormalrate?Butthenitjuststartstobounceothehippocampus,likewhenwe
trytoreadaphonebookfromcovertocover :)
Thiscanbecircumventediftheinformationissointerestingandexcitingthatthebrainforcesthe
hippocampustostoretheextrainformation.How?
Travellinginanewplace,newscenery,excitingexperiences,newandnovel,fabuloussunsets,new
experiences,newpeopleandeverythingelsethatgoeswithavacationinanewplaceforcesthis
processintooverdrive.Weexperiencethebraingoingintothismodeasexcitement,afeelingof
hyperawarenessandageneralfeelingofbeingalive.Thatishowitfeelswhenthebrainisrebuilding
itself,sotospeak,andnodoubttheextrabloodflowandactivitygenerallyisbeneficial.
Wenotethatpeoplefeelfarlessdepressedwhenexperiencingaholidayandusuallyfeeltheopposite
todepression~theyfeelinvigoratedandalive.Theanatomicalreasonismostprobablyrelatedto
extrahippocampalactivity.
Oncetheextrainformationawaitingstorageistuckedawayinlongtermstoreonethenhasavailable
extrahippocampaltissuereadyforonesideas,learningandexperiencesonthedomesticfrontegfor
work,study,creativityandinvention.
Thushippocampalneurogenesiscanbestimulatedbysuchactivity,thoughIdonotknowofany
study that has tested this idea, the correlation with widely anecdotal reporting of experiences
concomitantwithhippocampalneurogenesiscannotbetriviallydiscounted.Butcorrelationisnot
sucienttoindicatecausation.Forthatweneedempiricalverification:someoneneedstomeasure
this.
Icheat.TostimulatetheprocessIlistentomusicthroughafantasticsoundsystemfortenormore
hours per day for weeks at a time (I did this in the mid 1980s and mid 1990s) or watch entire
televisionseriesinthecourseofaweekorso.Theseriesmustbeofsucientinteresttoreallydraw
yourattentionandlongenoughtokeepyougoingforweekormore.TheentireStarTrekseries
would be anexample (availableonDVD), Silent Witness andsoon (thathas some intellectual
contentsucientforlearningorcriticalevaluationegyoupointouttheflaws,checkfactsetc).After
doingthismymindmagicallyfunctionsmuchbetterwheremanyfacts,ideasandconceptsneedto
be held in medium term memory (like reviewing an entire field of study that you had all but
forgottenabout,theextrastorageallowsmoretobekeptonhand,sotospeak).
Orisitjustmeandmyhyperactiveimagination?Nodoubtwellseeanempiricaltreatmentofthis
ideaoneday :)

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Quote | August 23, 2015

DoesaDysfunctionalEpisodicMemorySystemexplainsomeAutismTraits?
11/24/2015 5:14 PM