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This is the abstract for a poster I presented at the Tucson II Consciousness Conference
Toward a Science of Consciousness, Sponsored by the University of Arizona, April
8-13, 1996. I conceived, wrote, and submitted this abstract on December 5,
1995. It gives a rough idea of where my information technology thinking and
research have been directed for several years. I gave a talk updating and extending these ideas at the Xerox
PARC forum on February 15, 2001.
The virtual information domain (VID): matterless non-electromagnetic information structures and communication, biological transduction, monoatoms and new `vidic' technologies. C. Duffield (The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.) Much as a wide diversity of seemingly unrelated and anomalous phenomena have become understood within the framework of electromagnetics, so may a diversity of other phenomena become understood within the unifying framework of `vidics': theory and practice related to the just-postulated (and perhaps soon to be widely technologically exploited) virtual information domain (vid). These phenomena include: homeopathy, radionics, energy medicine, precognition, empathy, intuition, rich content of hallucinations and visions, applied kinesiology, acupuncture, social cohesion, and consensus reality. Other phenomena active primarily in the vid may include memory, thought, intent, and even consciousness itself. These are commonly reported experiences, and widely practised arts. But they clash with prevailing paradigms of science, and so are usually ignored, denied, or vigorously debunked by it. However, lab results such as remote manipulation of DNA by conscious intent (McCraty), and remote communication between humans and plants or cell cultures (Backster) impel re-evaluation. The vid appears to support phenomena which operate closely with matter and energy, but which can also operate independently. Sheldrake postulates a kind of memory existing outside the material world but interacting with it. Homeopathy removes substance and leaves only information. Radionics uses conscious intent to obtain, alter, and broadcast information with the goal of altering remote physical systems. Energy medicine uses conscious intent to get information from the body and to inject new information for improved health. The vid appears to support not only simple memory, but also hierarchical self-organizing systems, complex data structures, logic engines, communication and control systems, and space-time transcendence. Biological systems may actually represent intimate integration of matter and energy with the vid, evolved over billions of years. Brains and immune systems may actually be transceivers between these two worlds. The monoatomic forms of normally metallic elements, studied by David Hudson, may, incorporated into enzyme complexes and biomolecular structures, represent the bridge between these two worlds, allowing living matter to exhibit bulk quantum effects and transduce information with the vid. These monoatoms may be the `juice' that enables and drives quantum computation and transduction phenomena of DNA, microtubules, chlathrins, and fullerenes postulated by Hameroff and Koruga. These insights might enable new vid technologies such as fast, efficient, and virtually free computers and memory without physical form, accessed by remote terminals; new forms of vid diagnosis and healing machines; self organizing vid machines that embody artificial consciousness and true artificial intelligence; and extremely high bandwidth vid communications devices and hierarchical control systems. Through recognition and exploration of the vid, we will gain new understanding of many phenomena. How, for instance, such small brains (human, insect, or paramecium) seem to have such large and varied capacities. Or how energy medicine works. Or why the electromagnetic search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has not met with success -- perhaps civilizations slightly more advanced than our own have found vid communication far more effective and efficient. Opening up the vid scientifically and technologically will give us many new capabilities and responsibilities. I hope that we will do so ethically, humbly, carefully, and consciously. |
