Consciousness is the etheric fabric that gives rise to our subjective experiences, our perception of the world, and our sense of self. For many millennia, this concept has been linked to religious or philosophical thought under the consideration of the existence of a soul, connected in some mysterious way to the body. And, deeply intertwined with the concept of consciousness, the notion of free will, the ability to make decisions independently of external influences, has been recognized.

The attempt to develop a systematic approach to the study of consciousness began with René Descartes in the 17th century. However, his dualistic conception, which claimed that consciousness is a state of the mind while the brain plays a role restricted to non-conscious processes, placed consciousness outside the domain of science. The scientific Enlightenment adopted materialism and, following its principles, restricted the investigation of the world to physical substances, abandoning the exploration of subjective cognitive processes. A current that persists to this day, considering that we are slaves of our neurons, without true free will.

At the beginning of the 20th century, quantum theory began to be developed, which explains the behavior of matter and energy at its most elementary levels. According to it, nature acts non-deterministic, thus opening a new perspective for the study of consciousness. In fact, the scientists who started the path of this new way of seeing the world already intuited this possibility. Niels Bohr suggested that quantum theory could be relevant to understanding biological systems and even the mind[1], and Max Planck stated it thus: “I consider consciousness to be fundamental. I consider that matter is a derivative of consciousness”[2]

The quantum explanation of consciousness is developing and gaining followers

Many facets of quantum behavior that have been discovered are consistent with the emergence of life and consciousness. And, therefore, the idea that consciousness, our thoughts, the very essence of our being… can be explained by the enigmatic laws that govern the subatomic world, has been gaining followers, especially in recent years.

We understand that the way in which interactions are explained in quantum theory allows us to understand the processes of change. Indeed, while classical physics describes composite systems by combining the parts in an additive way, quantum theory uses a multiplicative approach, which allows new possibilities of the whole that cannot be foreseen from the properties of the parts alone. Consequently, quantum theory provides the scientific basis to explain how something new can arise. A whole is completely different and new, as we can see for example in the formation of water molecules, where we observe a great difference between the properties of water and those of hydrogen and oxygen gases. Quantum theory therefore allows us to explain the evolutionary process from inanimate matter to living beings.

Quantum mechanics reveals a world of probabilities and interconnections that has two fundamental characteristics: the principle of superposition, by which quantum entities can exist in several states at once until they are measured; and entanglement, which a baffled Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”[3], by which particles can entangle their destinies regardless of distance.

Many scientists now think that these phenomena are not mere peculiarities of the microscopic world, but are fundamental to the functioning of the brain and the emergence of consciousness. They could explain phenomena such as free will, creativity, and the entanglement problem—how disparate sensory inputs merge into a unified conscious experience.

In particular, the reality of entanglement, which affects particles light-years apart, is giving rise to the idea that our thoughts are not confined to the confines of the skull, and that consciousness is intimately connected to the surrounding universe, with neurons in the brain communicating instantaneously across vast distances.

In recent years, empirical evidence has multiplied, including in the field of biology, supporting these ideas. For example, research has shown that certain quantum effects, such as quantum coherent energy transfer and entanglement, play a role in photosynthesis[4], the process that is at the very basis of life. Similarly, there is evidence that European robins could use the quantum entanglement of their cryptochromatic proteins to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, allowing them to navigate perfectly oriented over distances of 2,500 kilometres[5].

And very recently, the particularity of quantum entanglement in the human brain seems to have been confirmed. This would make it possible to explain consciousness in the brain through the instantaneous transfer of information and the synchronization of the activities of millions of neurons. In an article published in 2024 in Physical Review E[6], physicists Zefei Liu and Yong-Cong Chen of Shanghai University and biomedical engineer Ping Ao of Sichuan University explain how entangled photons emitted by carbon-hydrogen bonds in certain nerve cell cavities could synchronize brain activity.

David Bohm’s proposal allows for a relevant description of consciousness

Quantum mechanics turns out to be a precise and reliable science that has survived an extraordinarily wide range of experiments. But its interpretation divides the scientific community, so there are different interpretive theories. Bohm and Hiley’s proposal[7] is the one we understand best responds to the characteristics of consciousness that we know empirically[8].

David Bohm’s explanation is based on quantum mechanics (QM) and is in complete agreement with it. It is based on Louis de Broglie’s interpretation of the “pilot wave” in which he introduces new ideas that imply a radically different view of nature, without making any empirical difference.

Matter, and also the matter of the brain, is made up of particles that we know are made up of quantum fields, interacting in space-time. Bohm postulates that a particle is always a particle and a field at the same time. The field gives rise to a quantum potential that influences the motion of the particle. The mathematics suggests that the shape of the quantum field is literally in-forming the energy of the particle. Paavo Pylkkänen[9] likens it to the way a radar wave guides a ship on autopilot. The radar wave does not push or pull the ship, but the shape of the radar wave (which reflects the shape of the environment) informs the higher energy of the ship. Similarly, Bohm thought that the quantum field carries information about the shape of the environment and this information directs the particle to move in a certain way.

Just as there is a quantum field that informs the motion of the particle, there is a superquantum field that informs the motion of the first-order quantum field, and so on. Together, it constitutes a universally distributed nonlocal quantum holographic information network[10] that connects our consciousness to the quantum-holographic cosmos.

It is a nonlocal quantum informational display that self-organizes matter, life, mind, and consciousness. The information of our mental states is a part of the information contained in this hierarchy of quantum information fields. This information of our mental states influences neuronal processes, reaching the quantum particles and fields in an appropriate part of the brain.

With this, Bohm proposes a solution to the problem of mental causality. This active information at the quantum level provides the missing link between the mental and physical aspects of reality. Human thought and choice affect intrinsic quantum fields, elementary particles in the brain (and, through the brain, the rest of the body). Consciousness emerges as an infinite sequence of quantum potentials at successive levels, each controlling the one below.

This mechanism by which individual consciousness can be abstracted from an underlying “background” of consciousness, constitutes an explanation of the mind-brain relationship that determines free, conscious rational choice and satisfies experimental observations that point to a mind or soul outside the realm of classical physics.

Consistent with this theory, Stanford neuroscientist Karl Pribram has developed a model of human cognition[11] that describes the brain as a holographic storage network. He notes the similarities between brain processes and the storage of information in a hologram. The brain may be processing ordinary images into interference patterns that are then converted into virtual images, similar to how a laser hologram works. In a hologram, any part of the hologram that is large enough contains all of the stored information. In this theory, a chunk of a permanent memory is similarly distributed across a dendritic tree, such that each part of the dendritic network contains all of the information stored in the entire network. This model is consistent with important aspects of human consciousness, such as fast associative memory that allows connections between different chunks of stored information, and the nonlocality of memory storage (a specific memory is not stored in a specific location, i.e., in a specific group of neurons). And it explains near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs).

An analogy of this proposal is the distribution of radio waves that exist in a zone of space, in which at each of its points all channels can be accessed, in a similar way to how all the information of a hologram is contained in one part.

A revolutionary idea or a return to the past?

The basic mathematical property of holographic systems, in which the information of the entire system is distributed in each part of it, is inherent to the underlying background of consciousness that floods the universe and with which we are connected.

And this holo-informational nature of the universe, Professor Francisco Di Biase discovers it reflected in the beautiful Buddhist metaphor of Indra’s Net[12], whose origin dates back to a millennium before the beginning of our era: In the heavenly abode of the great god Indra there is a wonderful net that extends indefinitely in all directions. In each of the infinite nodes of the web there is a single, shining jewel. If we select one of these jewels and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface are reflected all the other jewels of the web, infinite in number. Each of the jewels reflected in this single jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so the process of reflection is infinite.

This metaphor shows a Cosmos with an infinite web of holograms, where each part of this holographic system contains the information about all the others, each defining and maintaining all the others.

Manuel Ribes – Life Sciences Institute – Bioethics Observatory – Catholic University of Valencia

***

^[1] Paavo Pylkkänen  Quantum Theories of Consciousness R. Gennaro ed.The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness  2018

^[2]  Ediho Lokanga A Special Relationship between Matter, Energy, Information, and Consciousness  International Journal of Recent advances in Physics  2020   https://doi.org/10.14810/ijrap.2020.9301

^[3] Manuel Ribes El Nobel de Física para “la acción espeluznante a distancia” – Observatorio de Bioética UCV, 25 octubre 2022

^[4] Neill Lambert et al. Quantum biology Nature Physics 2012  DOI: 10.1038/NPHYS2474

^[5]  Marta Majewska et al.  European Robin Cryptochrome-4a Associates with Lipid Bilayers in an Ordered Manner, Fulfilling a Molecular-Level Condition for Magnetoreception ACS Chemical Biology  2025  https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.4c00576

^[6] Zefei Liu et al. Entangled biphoton generation in myelin sheath arXiv:2401.11682v2 [physics.bio-ph] 21 Aug 2024

^[7] Hiley, Basil J., and Paavo Pylkkänen, ‘Can Quantum Mechanics Solve the Hard Problem of Consciousness?’, in Shan Gao (ed.), Consciousness and Quantum Mechanics (New York, 2022; online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Oct. 2022), DOI:10.1093/oso/9780197501665.003.0016

^[8] Manuel Ribes ¿Qué nos dice la ciencia sobre el alma? Observatorio de Bioética UCV 26 junio 2024

^[9] Paavo Pylkkänen Quantum Theories of Consciousness R. Gennaro ed. The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness 2018

^[10] En 1948, Dennis Gabor desarrolló una técnica de registro de la amplitud y la fase de la onda luminosa para obtener una imagen tridimensional de un objeto, una técnica a la que se denomina holografía. El holograma es la metáfora favorita de Bohm para transmitir la estructura de la realidad. Una característica principal de un holograma es que cada parte de la información almacenada está distribuida por todo el holograma.

^[11]  David Peat  David Bohm, Implicate Order and Holomovement  Science and Nonduality Dic 13 2024

^[12]  Di Biase F., Quantum Entanglement of Consciousness and Space-Time A Unied Field of Consciousness NeuroQuantology | March 2019| Volume 17 | Issue 03 | Page 80-85| doi: 10.14704/nq.2019.17.03.1993