Dyadic Model of Consciousness - Part 1
The name “dyadic” derives from observing that an impressive number of dualisms in descriptions of reality are in fact complementary, inseparable attributes of nature, such as wave/particle, mind/body, yin/yang, etc. It is observed that evolved organisms learn and appear to have volition. The model extends the notion of dualisms by recognizing that “existence and “knowing” are dyadic labels we can use too describe two fundamental facets of reality experienced by evolved anthropic beings.
Energy and information are basic attributes in nature. Information is defined as mere patterns of energy. Therefore energy and information may be viewed as dyadically coupled from the origin of the universe. The organization of energy is the basis of all existence; and information is the basis of all knowing. Our universe is an evolving universe which has self organized both matter and information, and displays both existence and knowing. “Knowing” is used in a general sense of apprehending and utilizing information.
One effect of the historical split of natural philosophy into science and theology in the seventeenth century has been that science has not concerned itself with the inner experience, nor has theology been strongly motivated to incorporate scientific discovery. But when we speak of “consciousness”, “mind”, or “knowing” we are, of necessity, addressing something that is only experienced subjectively. Indeed, studying consciousness forces us to recognize that all experience is fundamentally subjective. Thus, any model of consciousness that is rigorous and complete must be compatible with both the way that we experience consciousness subjectively and consistent as well with what we know about the physical world through the protocols of science. The dyadic model addresses both the subjective and objective aspects of the way consciousness is experienced. It addresses both the material and the ephemeral.
The dyadic model assumes that all human experience, including the mystical experience, has a valid informational basis, that is information (patterns of energy) is the root of all perception. It accepts the sciences from quantum science through paleontology have produced valid bodies of information. But the reinterpretation of the data, that is to say new meaning, may be necessary in view of a comprehensive theory of consciousness, because science has here-to-for excluded consciousness form its epistemology. All subjective experience, including the data from scientific inquiry and insights from the mystical experience, are perceptions that must be interpreted and given meaning. Scientific data is given meaning in Mystical interpretations of the inner experience that have been communicated in terms of allegory and metaphor and require re-examination in terms of modern knowledge about information and learning.
Applying the model to problems in cosmology results in a self-organizing, learning, volitional universe that looks like the three dimensional universe we seem to inhabit. Applying the model to problems in science suggests that many paradoxes in science result from not rigorously observing the subtle interactions between “existence” and “knowing”, that is to say confusing the map with the territory. Applying the model to subjective experience suggests that all interpretations, the “meaning” of experience changes as additional information is added. In the dyadic model both science and religious experience are just two different ways of “knowing” that employ different functions of the brain and are dyadically coupled.
Traditional philosophic models of existence may be categorized as materialist, idealist or dualist, meaning that existence originates in physical matter; existence originates in consciousness; or existence is both. The dyadic model has elements of the traditional models but is unique in its viewpoint of how matter and consciousness are related. In the dyadic model existence and knowing are linked at all scale sizes and all along the evolutionary path. Virtually all theologies concern themselves with some variation of the idealist model, as does the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Following the widespread acceptance of Cartesian dualism in the seventeenth century, science began its rise eventually adopting a materialist viewpoint by the middle of the nineteenth century. The classical Newtonian thought structure assumed the Descartean view that physicality could be studied independent of mind and that all matter consists of discrete, separate particles obeying the classical laws of physics. Of course general relativity and quantum theory challenged that viewpoint. The relationship between physical measurements in different reference frames emerged from special relativity, and in quantum theory the act of making a measurement was seen to affect the outcome of the experiment. Both theories call into question the Newtonian notion of absolutes and the separateness of things. Quantum theory suggests that mind, or knowing, must now be considered when making observations at this level of existence. Thus quantum theory raises questions about determinism in its strictest sense and raises challenges to the materialist assumption of epiphenomenalism.