THE HYPERSPACE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Dr Teodorani is an Italian astrophysicist, lecturer and science writer who obtained his PhD from the University of Bologna on the physics of binary stars. He is the author of 17 books (the previous two being Intelligence Beyond Earth, 2013, and The Creative Mind, 2009) and has published many articles on subjects across the science spectrum from quantum physics to bioastronomy, the search for extraterrestrial life within the ongoing SETI Project and the physics of strange atmospheric phenomena such as the Norwegian Hessdalen Lights. His inquiry as to the nature of the universe has led him to the hypothesis that matter and consciousness, which he often terms as 'spirit' are one at quantum level. In this speculative book he advances 'several rather courageous hypotheses' over 15 chapters into how quantum physics and related concepts can marry consciousness into the universe.

He proposes that we are quantum beings by nature (hence the 'hyperspace of consciousness' within quantum nonlocality) and in the first part of the book he presents some basic quantum physics which he interprets in terms of David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order theory of the universe. The world we see being the Explicate Order and the unseen world where matter, mind and consciousness are united in a 'quantum potential' or Q being the Implicate Order. According to Teodorani the Explicate Order is real in the sense of actual existence in space and time and the Implicate Order is one of virtual existence that, as he puts it, 'allows something to exist'. Consciousness is not some immaterial entity but a quantum entity and Teodorani interprets this as meaning that consciousness has the property of having a 'non-local radio' connectedness with the entire universe. As Teodorani sees it the purpose of the Universe as a whole is to exist in Explicate reality as otherwise it could not become aware of itself if it remained in a virtual Implicate. The quantum 'spirit' or consciousness is related to material reality through the DNA information that constructs the brain and its quantum capabilities. Teodorani suggests that 'spirit' is 'actually located inside the quantum "cloud of probability" that our instruments cannot see but the spirit can see what is happening while inside the probability cloud so doesn't need to collapse it'. The spirit engages with matter in the form of the brain but 'being made of pixels of consciousness' it is not governed by matter but by information so that matter obeys the spirit's orders and is bound to the pixels of consciousness 'whose main software is the Pauli Exclusion Principle' (I got more than a bit lost here).

All this speculation is bound up with the late Karl Pribam's model of holonomic brain processing (developed in association with Bohm) in which the dynamic bioelectrical fields that surrounds the fine structure of dendritic 'trees' can influence other dendritic trees of nearby neurons which are in non-local contact to create a holographic consciousness in which the part contains the whole. Dennis Gabor, who invented the hologram described this information transfer in terms of 'holons' of information as in the quantum holography which is the basis of MRI, PET scans and other image processing. Central to Teodorani's speculations is the concept of the quantum brain/quantum mind as developed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff based upon the theory that the hollow microtubules that form the skeletal structure (cytoskeleton) of all cells including neurons possess the properties of collapsing the wave function into informational computation creating consciousness. This is known as 'Orchestrated Objective Reduction' (OrchOR).

Each collapse of the wave function by the microtubules generates moments of consciousness and the greater the concentration of microtubules the greater the level of consciousness. Teodorani estimates that as each moment of consciousness in humans lasts for one sixtieth of a second about one million moments of consciousness per day requires about one million microtubule quantum wave function collapses to be experienced as conscious continuity. Teodorani suggests that amoebas which have much fewer microtubules probably experience no more than a dozen moments of consciousness per day (hopefully, they fully treasure each one). According to Teodorani 'microtubules are real units with their own intelligence' as demonstrated by the behaviour of single celled, ciliated, paramecium that can swim in any direction, learn, avoid predators and reproduce without the need of synapses and neuronal circuitry considered by mainstream neuroscience as essential for learned behaviour. This quantum brain-quantum conscious mind interpretation of microtubule function is rejected by mainstream physicists and neuroscientists although it does have some supporters.

In his opening chapter on 'Multidimensionality and Synchronicity' he says that 'the particles of consciousness constituting our spirit are all enclosed in a kind of cocoon. They stay there simply because the spirit is afraid to crumble and lose its identity and cleaves to the ego which is precisely its cocoon. But the ego is also spiritual blindness. When the spirit overcomes its fear it realises that it cannot crumble because the particles constituting it do not scatter but simply "turn on a switch" that potentially connects them non-locally to all the other particles in the universe. Once the fear is banished ecstacy follows and knowledge with it.

All the foregoing, and much more, leads us to what, for Teodorani, is his central concept of 'The Big Library Hypothesis (BLH)' which, he says, is the Cosmic Library that exists everywhere throughout the universe including the quantum vacuum together with all atoms and their subatomic units (Lazslo's Akashic Field theory is a close analogy). Where do we as individuals fit into the BLH? Teodorani's scenario is along the following lines; the essential 'spirit' of each of us exists in the form of a quantum field that can become manifest as consciousness in any body which has the property of quantum coherence such as the brain (mainstream physicists say that such neural quantum coherence is not possible as decoherence is almost instantaneous); it acts as the 'terminal' of a big 'supercomputer' to work as software controlling the hardware of the body to collect information about the physical world. This information is automatically and non-locally 'uploaded' on a 'hard disc' located in the quantum vacuum at the Planck scale of 10-34 cm. All thoughts and emotions are non-locally uploaded 'like an Internet website by every single spirit'. This creates an ever expanding 'cosmic database' that records all sentient life as long as this includes emotion as a strong factor. If there is no emotion associated with an event then that event is not recorded.

His hypothesis is that 'the void' contains, or is, the memory of everything thought and felt by everyone downloaded into the universal Big Library (BL) of pure information. Teodorani says that 'If information directing the orchestra doesn't exist the Universe would have no reason to exist as well'. It is special access to the BL that animates great scientist, artists, writers, poets and mystics through their BL spiritual terminals. He takes the story of the Dogon people's apparent awareness that Sirius-A, the brightest star in the sky, had a tiny Sirius-B companion as a binary star system as an example of shamanic communication with the BL (Sirius-B was discovered in by telescope in1862). Others say that they were informed by post 1862 anthropologists. Teodorani proposes that the various manifestations of paranormality such as telepathy, clairvoyance and psychic healing involve accessing the BL. There is much more along a similar vein including discussion of tulpas as materialised thoughtforms and the suggestion that the Universe is, in effect, a Tulpa formed from the virtual particle inflation at the moment of the Big Bang.

We now turn to the 'Intelligent Plasma Hypothesis (IPH)'. Plasma gases are often seen in the atmosphere as luminous plasma streaks, balls or tubules, sometimes changing colour and pulsating. Plasma is the fourth and very different fundamental state of matter after solids, liquids and gases. Plasmas are formed from localised regions of freely moving positive and negative electric ions from electrons and protons to molecules in constant interaction emitting light and with temperatures that can reach several thousand degrees centigrade. Lightning, electric sparks, neon lights etc are typical examples. Teodorani has investigated the atmospheric plasma lights known as the Hessdalen Lights that frequently occur above the Hessdalen valley in Norway. Teodorani speculates that plasma lights may exhibit levels of intelligent behaviour, acting like a brain and may even be a form of Life. He suggests that at quantum level plasma balls may exhibit quantum coherence and even interact with the microtubules of nearby brains in resonant frequency of pulsation.

Teodorani quotes from an Internet source concerning a hilly location between southwest Missouri and northeast Oklahoma where atmospheric 'Joplin Spooklights' over a valley are often seen. A viewer trained in Remote Viewing claimed to be in telepathic communication with these lights saying that they are aware of their surroundings including humans. A more mundane explanation is that the atmosphere above the valley is in line with headlight beams from traffic on Route 66 near Interstate 44 as demonstrated when flicking headlights on and off resulted in Joplin Spooklight pulsation. He speculates that what he calls 'spirit' is an 'information package' that survives bodily death. During life it is a 'quantum coherent electrodynamic field' governing the electromagnetic biofield of the body in which biophotons generated by cells play an important role in cellular health.

After death spirit survives as 'a non-collapsed superposition of quantum states frozen inside the Planck field as an information databank.' It can reconnect either with a quantum biophysical structure such as the human brain or, it seems, as plasma ball intelligence. Either way it would be in communication with the Big Library. I end this section of this review by quoting Teodorani's final paragraph 'The goal of the Cosmic Big Library – whose role is both communicating information non-locally and of creating new matter starting directly from the information stored in it – is to lead all sentient beings in the Universe towards an asymptotic limit approximating God. This is the only way God can take connivance of himself; from an orchestrated fire made of an infinite number of sparks wanting to revive him'. I should add here that Teodorani does not mean God in any conventional religious sense but as universal quantum intelligence.

Although written for the general reader I feel that the validity of his interpretation of the quantum world as explored through his 'rather courageous hypotheses' concerning us as quantum selves within an intelligent Big Library Universe can only be assessed by those with an equivalent understanding of quantum theory. At most I could gain only a very limited understanding as many of his quantum based descriptions left me frustratingly baffled. The one point on which I am in complete agreement is that any attempt to explain the nature of the universe must include the nature of ourselves and, by inference, all life. In fairness to Dr Teodorani his Hypothesis about the Intelligent Universe as expressed in his subtitle and developed in this book may become common thinking in the future. Despite my lack of understanding I hope I have conveyed enough of his exposition through my selection of quotes for you to consider exploring his ideas for yourself.