Explaining the Behavior of Subcellular Molecules
The prior Molecular Mind discussion illustrated how existing science is unable to explain the behavior of kinesin motor proteins. We chose to feature kinesin in this discussion because of its striking ability to walk on two legs combined with its ability to navigate around obstacles while walking. The list of matter structures that can walk on two legs is limited to humans, primates, birds, kangaroos, bears, a few species of lizards and insects.....and motor proteins. Motor proteins are the only biped matter structure that lacks a brain, yet researchers continue to fund more and more evidence of goal directed behaviors, communication skills, and a level of cognition and agency that can only be explained by the assumption that kinesin have molecular scale minds.
We discussed the fact that ATP powers kinesin movements while pointing out that scientists have been unable to identify a causal driver of these movements using the theories of classical physics and chemistry. We discussed the limitations in the current paradigms of quantum physics which effectively preclude a quantum explanation for kinesin behavior, specifically that the assumption of random quantum processes underpinning the indeterminate behavior of quantum scale matter can offer no causal explanation for the behaviors of ATP and Kinesin. It is simply unscientific to assume that a myriad of random quantum processes can somehow produce precise timing and coordination of thousands of kinesin walking on microtubules within each cell, run at speeds of up to 100 steps per second without falling off microtubules, cause kinesin to pick up materials at point A, navigate the vast network of microtubules to deliver cargo to point B where it just so happens to be needed, and to detect the presence of other kinesin and change lanes to avoid a collision. The video of a walking kinesin is provided once again to remind the reader of the striking image of a kinesin walking, a behavior that lacks a causal explanation by modern science.
Video produced by XVIVO Scientific Animation for Harvard University's "BioVisions" project, and was featured in the 2006 film The Inner Life of the Cell.
Kinesin are not the only subcellular structures that demonstrate complex behaviors. A google search on any of the organelles inside cells will uncover countless computer generated videos created by scientists who study organelles which illustrate a wide range of complex behaviors, each organelle performing highly specific duties that are critical to keep the cell, and by extrapolation the multicellular organism, alive. These videos are always intended to be scientifically accurate in what is being depicted, leveraging the most recent scientific evidence collected at the time of video production. While the scientists who create these videos often describe the physics and chemistry underpinning organelle movements, they routinely fail to explain the "causal driver" behind their behaviors using theories of physics and/or chemistry. Describing physical movements of a molecule with physics and chemistry is not the same thing as describing what is causing the movements. Scientists routinely attributing the causation to upstream "signal pathways" which is basically kicking the can down the road because a true scientific explanation for organelle behavior requires explaining where and how guiding signals are generated and precisely timed using the theories of physics and chemistry, something that simply cannot be done using existing science which assumes the base layer of reality is driven by random processes. It is simply unscientific to assume that octillions of random quantum processes operating on the billions of molecules inside a single cell can ever explain the highly orchestrated processes of cellular life. Modern scientific paradigms offer no explanation for the goal directed behaviors, communications, cognition, and agency demonstrated by organelles and molecules inside living cells.
Kinesin are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, meaning it is currently impossible to capture a live videos of their movements. Everything we have learned about kinesin comes from taking high resolution images using advanced electromagnetic instruments that hit the molecule with a stream photons or electrons, quantum scale particles that electromagnetically interact with the kinesin and are reflected back to the instrument and captured as electromagnetic data which is used to deduce the structure and movements of the molecule. Kinesin exist at a scale where quantum theory describes its behavior, thus the randomness assumption underpinning quantum theory cannot explain its behaviors. This means the only way to describe kinesin behavior is to relax the randomness assumption in quantum theory as we search for a causal explanation of kinesin walking.
Replacing the Random Assumption with Mind as an Observer
The central mystery in quantum physics is called the “observer problem”, which involves the difficulty in explaining why quantum scale matter behaves differently when being observed versus not being observed. This mystery is also referred to as the “measurement problem” where quantum scale matter behaves differently when being measured versus not being measured. It is the act of observation or measurement of a quantum system that physicists view as “collapsing the wave function” of the system, resulting in one of many possible outcomes to manifest into a single definite classical result. Once a observation or measurement occurs, the wave equations that describe the quantum system no longer represent the current state of the system, thus the relevance of the equations “collapse” into oblivion. That matter behaves in this manner when being observed or measured is not mere speculation, it is a hard scientific fact backed up by a century of quantum physics experiments. Quantum physics has proven that observing or measuring quantum scale matter influences the behavior of the matter being observed or measured.
Many mysteries such as the famous double slit experiment, delayed choice experiment, and the collapse of the wave function all have the observer problem at their core. Numerous quantum paradoxes such as Schrodinger’s Cat, Wigner’s Friend, and the Frauchiger-Renner paradox are all also deeply rooted in the observer problem. The central theme that connects most if not all of the quantum mysteries and paradoxes is the fact that quantum theory does not explicitly incorporate observers or measurements into its formalisms. In fact, quantum theory lacks definitions for what constitutes an observer, an observation, a measurement device, and even what counts as a measurement. Quantum theory lacks definitions for the key terms in its central mystery, which leads to paradoxes that cannot be resolved without defining the terms.
The observer problem is also the only place in the entirety of physics that even hints at a possible connection between mind and matter, where the simple act of observation influences the behavior of matter. FMT takes this hint at face value and uses it to put forth the hypothesis that mind can function as an observer. Since simply observing matter influences its behavior, defining mind as an observer means that mind can influence the behavior of matter. This may seem similar to Eugene Wigner's view that consciousness collapses the wave function, a view that was widely criticized by his peers. Most scientists of that era believed that consciousness emerged from brain processes, thus it implied that the universe did not exist until a human brain evolved to observe it, which led to Wigner's views largely being ignored by the scientific community. FMT asserts that the collective mind of a matter structure can influence the behavior of the components of it physical structure from the quantum scale to the human scale. This means that the human mind can control the behavior of the cells that form its body, a cellular mind can control the behavior of the molecules that form its body, and a molecular mind can control the behavior of the subatomic particles that form its body.
In the proposed solutions to the combination problem we discussed the scientific fact that the electromagnetic force is the sole force of nature that combines and powers matter from subatomic particles to humans. We also speculated that mind as a fundamental property or particle would be simultaneously combined and conserved by the electromagnetic force and universal conservation laws of science. Electromagnetic theory states that the charged protons and electrons that hold matter structures together would form a unified electromagnetic field that surrounds and pervades the matter structure. FMT asserts that it is through this unified electromagnetic field that the combined mind of a matter structure exerts agency over its physical components, meaning the combined atomic mind of a kinesin exerts agency over the atoms that form its physical structure via the tiny electromagnetic field that surrounds and pervades the kinesin's atoms.
Quantum Theory Models the Degrees of Freedom of the Mind of a Quantum System
FMT views quantum wave equations as representing our knowledge of the state of a quantum system between measurements or observations. Wave function collapse represents an update to our knowledge of the specific properties of the system when a measurement or observation occurs, whereby the equations that previously described the system are rendered moot. Between measurements or observations the specific properties of a quantum system are unknowable because the collection of quantum waves being modeled are spread out over a region of space. If we apply this view to the famous Schrodinger's cat paradox, the cat is never alive "and" dead at the same time, it is always either alive "or" dead. It is Schrodinger's knowledge of the state of his cat that exists in a superposition of possible states since he has not updated his knowledge of the state of his cat since he placed it in the box and put the lid on. He updates his knowledge by opening the box and looking inside, where hopefully he learns that his cat is still alive!
Defining mind as an observer that can influence the behavior of matter structures is the FMT hypothesis for how kinesin minds can control their physical structures in order to pickup materials, walk on microtubules, navigate the network of microtubules to deliver its payload, and take evasive actions to avoid collisions. Kinesin have molecular scale minds that can control their molecular scale bodies by influencing the movement of the atoms and subatomic particles that make up its physical structure. FMT views quantum theory as as a set of tools and rules that model the “degrees of freedom of movement" that the mind of a quantum system may have pursued since it was last observed or measured, not a measure of the randomness inherent in the quantum system. Mind influencing the behavior of its matter structure provides the missing ingredient to explain the complex causal behaviors of molecules inside cells such as kinesin. The physics that specifically describes how mind can influence matter remains unknown, but the basic fact that mind can influence matter is supported by an abundance of scientific evidence at the quantum scale, and at the scale of humans as we see in the next section.
Human Scale Evidence that Mind Can Influence the Behavior of Matter
The placebo effect demonstrates that fake drugs and fake treatments can positively impact the healing ability of the human body at the cellular scale. Fake drugs (placebos) have been found to positively impact a patient's condition even though the patient received a sugar pill or other non-medical substance that should have no impact on the patient's condition. Placebos are the gold standard control group in all drug and medical treatment testing worldwide, a scientifically validated fact that sits at the core of the $1.7 trillion global pharmaceutical industry. There is no scientific explanation for how or why placebos work, but that doesn't change the fact that what a human believes in their mind can affect the ability of their body to heal at the cellular level. Let's dig into the placebo effect in a bit more detail.
One patient group is given a fake pill but believe they are receiving a new drug developed to treat their condition. Another patient group is given the new drug being tested. Somehow both patient groups experience improvement in their conditions, a phenomena called the placebo effect. This effect demonstrates that what our minds believes can influence the ability of our cells to heal our bodies. Colored pills produce stronger placebo effects than white pills. Red, yellow, and orange placebo pills produce a stimulant effect while blue and green placebo pills produce a tranquilizing effect. Larger placebo pills produce a greater effect than smaller pills, two pills produce a greater effect than a single pill, placebo injections produce a greater effect than pills, and so on.
Neither patient nor doctor knows which patients are getting the real drug versus the placebo. This is called the "double blind protocol" which was developed because it was discovered that the strength of the placebo effect was less if the doctors administering the drug trials knew which patient received the drug versus placebo. Think about that, if a doctor knowingly gives you a placebo but you think it's a new drug, you will have a lesser placebo effect than if the doctor had no knowledge of whether it was a placebo. The double blind protocol prevents the minds of doctors and nurses running drug trials from inadvertently affecting the efficacy of the placebo effect on the patient's body. This feels more like ESP than hard science, yet the double blind protocol has been found to be essential to all drug testing. As a quick aside, there is an abundance of scientific evidence that ESP is a small but statistically significant effect, but it does not appear consistently enough across the population to be recognized by the scientific community as a real phenomena.
The placebo effect is estimated to account for 30% to 60% of the benefit of the average drug, yet there is no scientific theory explaining how the placebo effect works. Nor is there much research activity trying to understand the placebo effect nor the need for the double blind protocol. It is striking that the central scientific fact that lies at the core of the testing protocol in one of the largest and most scientifically advanced industries on earth is that the mind can influence matter.
Conclusion
The observer effect is supported by a massive body of scientific evidence demonstrating that simply observing quantum scale matter influences the behavior of that matter. Since “Mind equals Observer” in FMT, quantum scale mind can influence the behavior of quantum scale matter, molecular scale mind can influence the behavior of molecular scale matter, cellular scale mind can influence the behavior of cellular scale matter, and your human mind can influence the behavior of your human body. Returning to our molecular mind example, watch the video above one more time and consider whether the kinesin appears to be controlling its body. Now consider whether the kinesin's ability to control its body is more likely to be driven by trillions of random quantum processes that somehow result in its coordinated and seemingly intelligent behavior, or whether the kinesin may have a rudimentary form of intelligence and is taking actions in pursuit of a goal. Kinesin control their atomic structures to enable walking, navigation, changing lanes to avoid a collision, and so forth. The mind of a kinesin is the causal agent driving its behaviors as it performs its duties in support of the continued survival of its cellular ecosystem. The amazing set of skills demonstrated by kinesin can best be explained by assuming that kinesin have minds that control their atomic scale bodies, similar to how our human minds control our massively more complex multicellular bodies.
FMT asserts that our 30 trillion cells combine their cellular scale bodies and minds to form our human scale body and mind. The placebo effect provides direct evidence that our collective cellular minds can influence the ability of our cells to heal individually and collectively. Placebo testing provides a massive body of hard scientific evidence that proves our minds can influence our bodies at the cellular scale. Our human minds can influence the behavior of matter at the scale of our bodies and our cells, as well as in quantum scale experiments performed in labs. Mind can influence the behavior of matter at all scales. The evidence from quantum physics demonstrates that humans are not biological robots driven by deterministic laws with minds that have no ability to control our bodies; instead it shows that we have the collective mind of the matter that forms our body with the free will to choose how to live our lives, who to marry, what career to pursue, and what to eat for dinner.
The collective mind of any given matter structure can influence the behavior of its constituent atoms, molecules, and/or cells via the electromagnetic field that surrounds and pervades the matter structure. The complex and seemingly intelligent behavior of the billions of molecules inside every cell is impossible to explain via octillions of random quantum processes that are not in pursuit of any goal whatsoever. Unless and until a scientific theory is developed that explains how these complex behaviors are being controlled and orchestrated, the most logical hypothesis that explains the evidence is that molecules have cognition and agency indicative of a molecular scale mind. The rapidly increasing evidence of highly complex and precisely coordinated molecular activity inside cells is evidence that molecules are intelligent, have awareness of their surroundings, communicate and coordinate their actions with other molecules to keep their shared cellular ecosystem functioning properly. FMT concludes that molecules have minds.