There is an argument in Parapsychology whether psychic ability is a product of neural activity in the brain or of a non-corporeal mind. The first group are known as materialists and are able to point to some promising experiments both in neurobiology and quantum retrocausality. If all psychic ability is precognition, then perhaps the brain is getting information from the future in order to act on it in the present. As Stargate physicist Ed May puts it, the brain’s psychic retina, which has yet to be found, might be obtaining information from the future because, at the quantum level, things are time-symmetric or can go forward and backward in time. Stuart Hameroff an Anesthesiologist is looking into the structures of neurons in the brain, specifically the microtubules, which may receive information at a quantum level and which may either be the seat of consciousness, or just may be able to tap into the universal consciousness. I know, it’s hard to wrap your brain around your brain.
The group of no-local parapsychologists, such as Dean Radin, believe that the brain may perceive information psychically but it doesn’t start there. When I asked for some clarification, those in the room pointed to Near-Death experiences where the brain was supposedly non-functional at the time. “How can a dead brain perceive anything?” is their argument. Their hypothesis is that consciousness has a non-corporeal origin and utilizes the brain’s pre-frontal cortex just for interpretation. Both materialists and non-localists are pointing to quantum entanglement or retrocausality as the potential reason why psychic ability is not time-dependent.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Cern is constantly adding new knowledge about the particles that make up atoms. Other physicists are looking into something called “entanglement” and yet more are considering the waveforms of String Theory. All of these are amazingly complex mathematical constructs that even physicists struggle to comprehend completely, yet parapsychologists will argue that Entanglement must explain psi (that unknown which makes psychic ability work). Entanglement was a problem for Albert Einstein who called it “Spooky Action at a Distance” whereby two particles will share the same attributes as soon as one of them is observed regardless of how far apart they are. Quantum entanglement is used in quantum computers, ultra-precise clocks, and cryptography. It also may be why birds and other organisms may be able to orient themselves via an internal magnetic compass. The question of material or non-local can only be answered through experimental testing. Right now, the materialists are winning the argument because they have the brain and particles to test. Non-locals, though, have experiments that show immediate response effects involving people who are separated so that they have no normal means of communication.
Consciousness exists like a vibration affecting all matter in different ways rather than being a construct of neural function they say, a kind of panpsychism: every dynamic, living thing has a level of conscious intent. Max Planck, the original Quantum physicist said “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.” Essentially, which happened first? Brain or Mind? The jury is still out but when the scientific powers-that-be finally agree, it will be the next great leap of scientific endeavor.