spacetimequalia, an addendum to Einstein

It is known to us, within the current contours of physical and philosophical understanding, that all things that exist, and all things that occur, do so within the continuum of spacetime. All is somewhere in space and somewhen in time.

If this is true, then it necessarily follows that qualia, the irreducible textures of conscious experience, must also be situated within this fundamental continuum. And so, I propose an addendum to it: spacetimequalia (I will use STQ from now on).

Why should qualia be included? Well, I propose that the same explanatory gap we struggle with for qualia (the hard problem) is not unique to qualia.

For instance, we know mass correlates with STQ curvature, but we only predict such effects with accurate equations—we still have not explained the mechanism itself. Even in chemistry, we explain molecular interactions through models and equations, yet at the most fundamental level, particles never physically touch. More unexplained mechanisms.

There are explanatory gaps in all our physics knowledge. All we have are correlations to equations for all physics interactions. Our understanding is built on reliable correlations, but correlations are all they are, and so it seems nonsensical to hold qualia to a different standard than everything else. Nothing is reducible to anything. The only thing that’s different in qualia’s case, is that we merely lack the tools to properly measure our brain structures. Once we can measure the brain, we will get the same equations for qualia as we have for any other phenomena that we know about.

Qualia, then, can be thought analogously to gravity: when no mass is present, STQ remains flat, yet the potential for curvature is always there. Likewise, in the absence of neural structures, STQ holds the latent potential for qualia.

Brain structures are to qualia what mass is to gravity. Qualia, like gravity, is an inherent property of STQ, emerging only when material configurations reach the necessary conditions. As mass curves STQ with no known mechanism, neural activity imprints qualia in that aspect of STQ with no known mechanism.

This is because qualia are not reducible to neural firings any more than STQ curvature is reducible to mass. The material configurations of the brain do not generate consciousness from nothing—they interact with a latent property of STQ, imprinting themselves into the appropriate aspect.

This framework becomes intuitive when applied to volition and emotion. Just as gravity is not a primary phenomenon, only arising in response to the presence of mass. Qualia, too, do not generate themselves, and only arise as a response to the structured activity of the brain. Yet gravity, while secondary, still exerts force. It affects the motion of particles by curving the geometry of STQ. In the same way, qualia affect brain structures by imprinting on STQ. This reciprocal dynamic allows us to understand emotion and will as real valenced imprints, retaining the explanatory power of classical physics while granting consciousness its rightful ontological status: as a reactive-yet-causal phenomenon, not unlike gravity itself.

Metaphysically this takes a lot of ideas from many different theories, panpsychist without the cringe, physicalism without the hand-waving, dualism without the pluralism. And idealism is just stupid, so…

But now I’m just riffing at this point.