The book is based on a cosmological model of paired universes. Like “The Place of Quarantine,” it explores the connection between human consciousness and spacetime while further elaborating on the theoretical framework of consciousness, rooted in the quantum model of the brain. Here is how one of the book’s characters articulates this concept, referencing the work of the protagonist from “The Place of Quarantine”:
Firstly, the article asserts that the basis of human intelligence is not merely a ‘crossfire’ of neurons, but also quantum effects — a certain kind of quantum dynamics inside our brain. This is logical — everything I know about the brain points to a complete inability to explain its workings with a single neural paradigm. Secondly, according to the laws of quantum physics and due to the unique structural complexity of the brain, a special type of quasiparticle-wave with its own unique set of quantum properties emerges within it during the process of thinking; it is precisely these properties that open the way for interaction with the external field. The author calls that field a ‘conscion’ one — its quanta are hypothetical particles, ‘conscions,’ named after human consciousness — so, that’s what we’ll call it as well. Thirdly, in this field, as a result of interaction with the brain quasiparticles, a certain vortex is created, a stable wave formation, representing an external image of our mind — the author calls it a B Object. An incomprehensible name, but that is what he has chosen, and we may as well follow suit. And finally, this external field exists in an extended set of coordinates — being localized in global space in relation to us and penetrating our world in much the same way the magnetic field from two poles of a magnet penetrates a napkin placed between them. Accordingly, images of our consciousnesses are also located in outer space, outside our universe!
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Our brain is constantly exchanging energy, impulses and signals with this external image of itself. Our memories and thoughts are, roughly speaking, ‘recorded’ both here and there — they are encoded both in the quantum oscillations of the brain itself and in the dynamics of the conscion vortex. It is this exchange, this feedback — if you like, this gaze at yourself from the outside — that determines the emergence of the unique phenomenon that we call ‘human consciousness’.
In “Cogito Man,” the “conscion” paradigm of the mind is further refined and expanded, integrating recent scientific findings.
It is proposed that dialogue with one’s B Object represents just one possible interaction with the conscion field. Thus, throughout its lifetime, the brain learns to recognize a wide variety of external signals.
“This was the original scheme according to the Greek’s article,” he declared. “But since then, some followers have refined the theory, and one of them, an American named Albright, has managed to get quite a long way. In particular, he has shown that dialogue with our Object is only one of the possible means of interacting with the conscion field. A localized conscion vortex is not the only solution to the equations that the Greek got, just as, for example, a black hole is not the only solution to Einstein’s equations. To put it simply, the brain constantly sends out and receives from the outside different types of conscion waves — although this effect is much weaker than the exchange with its own B Object. Moreover, the Objects themselves inevitably ‘radiate’ with the information concealed in them. Thus, the conscion field in our planetary neighborhood is somehow very complexly ‘excited’ and ‘perturbed’; a non-trivial dynamic pattern has been forming in it. The evolution of this pattern over time reflects the gradual accumulation of our collective memory. We constantly complicate it with our thoughts and lived experiences, thereby structuring the global space more and more robustly. And obviously, this pattern of conscion waves must have a feedback effect on its sources — the human brain and the external image of consciousness, the B Object. That is, we not only remember the events that we learn about explicitly but also feel the faintest echoes of the same events in global oscillations of the conscion field. Our mind has these two stimuli to juxtapose; it learns from this juxtaposition and eventually perhaps acquires the ability to recognize traces of events even without experiencing these events, without ‘reflecting’ them in its own B Object! Crudely speaking, by reading hints from an external information flow.”
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“The main ‘partner’ in the information exchange is, of course, its own B Object, but other types of conscion waves probably convey something as well. Our mind captures reflections of experiences and meanings from all sides — sometimes, these are the same experiences and meanings, and we subconsciously compare them all our lives. I think it is very difficult for us to decipher something about ourselves from the background conscion waves — the B Object dominates in this regard, ‘jamming’ other signals. But a particularly receptive brain may well pick up some piece of information about others — I think this is manifested in some paranormal abilities.”
This is a hypothetical interpretation based on recent scientific papers that extend the quantum model of the brain to other tissues and organs.
In the previous novel, “The Place of Quarantine”, the B Object was viewed as an external 'image' of the brain’s internal dynamics, tied exclusively to cognitive processes—meaning it was assumed that the 'contents' of the B Object were limited to our memories and thoughts. Later, however, it became clear that this was an unjustified narrowing of the concept. We must also take into account the peripheral nervous system—that is, the entire organism as a whole. This makes the B Object a full-fledged representative of all aspects of human individuality. Here is how the book puts it:
Until now, we have been talking about memories and thoughts, that is, the products of intelligence. But Albright proved that the quantum model cannot be attributed to the brain alone! Peripheral nervous tissue has many of the features inherent in the cerebral cortex, and its macro-cells, in the same way, form a communication network that sets the initial conditions for micro-processes, for quantum effects in extended areas. These effects encode, so to speak, the quasi-thoughts of the body, distributed from the tips of the fingers to the neocortex. The quasi-memory of the body, the quasi-consciousness of the body, is united with our mind into one, just as the body itself is united with the brain into one… In other words, the quantum model of the brain extends to the whole person!
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Nervous tissue is always at the center of events! It is responsible for the interaction of the organs and the body’s systems, for their regulation. It receives external stimuli and transmits signals to the ‘center,’ to the brain — this is how sensations are formed and our connection with the environment is achieved. In a word, it is the nervous tissue — from our fingertips to the neocortex — that is our ‘I.’ Everything else in the human body is clothing, a dining room, a hospital for our real self, which is a collection of nerve cells.
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Of course, the brain does play a very special role — thanks to its great complexity, the main miracles take place precisely in it. It is there that specific particles appear that can interact with the conscion field. It is the brain that is the receiver-transmitter, exchanging information with the global space. But — and this is the most important ‘but’ — this information is not only the product of pure reason. In it, everything, from basic receptor stimuli to the most daring deductions and abstractions, merges into a coherent unity. And thus, we can state without reservation that in the conscion field, both in the B Objects and in the global wave background, not only memories and thoughts are reflected but also the whole personality of a human being, their entire unique self! Because the personality is precisely that — the union of the brain and the rest of the body. It is in the accumulated experiences, in modes of thinking and in the peculiarities of sensory responses. In touch, smell, vision. In grand ideas and dirty little thoughts. In how you react to heat and cold, to the moans and smells of a woman, to resentment and subtle flattery... And so on and so forth. All this is tied up into one thing — your ‘I’! And then it turns out that a particularly receptive brain, catching signals from the conscion field, correlates them not just with information produced by a faceless someone. For the receptive brain, this ‘someone’ is transformed into a very specific person — through albeit fragmentary, but individual, unique features and properties...
Central to the book is the integration of two concepts: external reflections of the mind and a “twin” universe with a reversed time axis. The primary implication is that we may be capable of detecting certain – perhaps very faint – signals from the future.
The images of our consciousnesses, called B Objects, are subject to the influence of the entire boundless cosmos, including our universe and its ‘pair.’ The complex pattern of the conscion field is constantly changing, as are the distributions of matter and energy in our twin universes. All these changes are interconnected, and, for example, each specific B Object somehow, albeit very indirectly, ‘feels’ their dynamics. And finally, as always in complex systems, these changes occur non-linearly — that is, the configurations of spaces and fields at any given moment depend on all previous configurations.
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Time in the sister universe runs in the reverse direction; it evolves, from our point of view, from our future to our past. This establishes the interdependence of events in the sister universe — their current state reflects their past, which corresponds to our future. Similarly, its impact on our minds and their representations in the conscion field considers past events in that universe, influencing us with weak reverberations of developments yet to occur from our perspective. Thus, the sister universe might theoretically transmit echoes of our future.
Once again, in different words – tediously, but with maximum detail. The moments "now" and "one year from now" are defined according to our timescale:
- The state of our universe at “now” is shaped by the state of the twin universe at “now”. Together, competing and cooperating, they warp spacetime – that is, they interact via gravity.
- The state of the twin universe at “now” is shaped by its state at what we call “one year from now” — because in the twin, time runs the other way, so that moment is actually part of its past (even though it lies in our future).
- Likewise, the twin universe at what we call “one year from now” is shaped by our universe at that same “one year from now”. From our perspective, the two will be warping spacetime together then; from the twin’s perspective, that joint warping has already happened.
- Following this chain, we see that the state of our universe at “now” is indirectly influenced by the state of our universe at “one year from now”. Perhaps this dependency is difficult to recognize, but its theoretical existence is apparent. Certain particularly sensitive individuals are probably capable of sensing and interpreting it – that is, verbalizing hints about what will happen in our future. We call them clairvoyants and almost always consider them charlatans. Others, belonging to a much broader group, may only be able to sense this dependency subconsciously. We call them "stubborn" (or "obstinate"), believing without cause in their destiny (mission).
The distribution of the conscion field constitutes a structured information space – an abstract “edifice” with countless entrances and exits, corridors and dead ends. It embodies the reflections of everything that happens and has happened to us: our perceptions of events, their interpretations, the derived generalizations, and a vast network of semantic associations and connections. In the book, this construct is referred to as the “labyrinth of events-experiences-meanings.”
At each of its points, there are a multitude of passages, and it is more likely to turn down certain ones over others. But, in theory, all paths are open; this process is not purely predetermined. The choice of the next step, direction, or corridor can be partially random, fluctuational. We somehow make our way through these nooks and crannies and, perhaps, see shimmering flashes on the walls — flashes of what lured us, prompted us to take this precise turn leading to a specific chain of ‘rooms.’ Perhaps our brain interprets these flashes through familiar forms — words, images, sounds.
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The paired universe impacts the configuration of the conscion field along with our own. The labyrinth of events-experiences-meanings, located in the global space, by the time of our ‘now’ has already received influences from the past of both universes. At the same time, the previous states of our consciousnesses from the point of view of the twin universe are their future states from our point of view. The twin universe, in its past, felt what would happen in our future, including our future impressions and experiences. That is, if we talk about our axis of time, then the previously mentioned labyrinth is constructed from both sides of it. ‘Now’ is the balance of the past and future, just as ‘nothingness’ is the balance of anti and non-anti. And we can see glints and flashes — and even distinct pictures — not only of our past but also of our future. Perhaps this is the most fundamental law — the inevitable relationship between space, time, and consciousness. Space is the balance of anti and non-anti, time is the balance of the past and future, and, well, consciousness, a mandatory element of which is its mirroring in the global space, is a balance of the reflections of the future and the past in the anti and non-anti. See, it’s quite a symmetrical system... I’ll just clarify one thing: all this is not really that original. The labyrinth, constructed from two sides, is very reminiscent of, for example, the concept of the Akashic records, which include, I quote, ‘All the words, emotions, intentions, produced by any form of life both in the past and in the future...’ The Theosophists, and especially the Anthroposophists, wrote a lot about it a hundred or so years ago – yet I must stress: my concept is derived not from esoteric tales but from rigid math, which can easily be given a physical interpretation.
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Our future — albeit indirectly, through the fields and forces of our sister universe — competes with our past in influencing our consciousness. However, perhaps, due to this indirectness, it is much more difficult to feel the impact of the future than that of the past. Therefore, maybe only a few catch hints coming from there...
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This is where the tablets of fate come from — as well as what subtly guides and inspires all creators. Of course, they are not given direct instructions scrawled in familiar letters. But through certain stimuli and their consequences, through deviations in field distributions, through some kind of global conscion ‘pulse,’ the content reaches those who are listening, who are able to concentrate properly...
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I emphasize: the point here is not just the accumulation of facts — unconscious forms could also handle this. The true essence is in the structuring, in the generation and abstraction of meanings. This is the highest role of our human minds!
Both books – especially “Cogito Man” – repeatedly explore the idea of an interplay between metaspace and human consciousness. This naturally raises questions regarding the vast discrepancy in characteristic scales – both spatial and temporal – between the quantum fields that underlie cognitive processes in the brain and, for example, the gravitational interactions that mediate the influence of our universe and its time-reversed twin upon one another and on the larger global space.
Here is how this topic is discussed in the novel:
“On the whole, I’m ready to agree, too,” Watson nodded. “I’m just confused by the difference in scales. On the one hand, we have quantum interactions in the microcosm, and on the other, gravitational effects, the mutual influence of masses and energies at the level of celestial bodies...”
“For me, it’s not a problem,” Kovitz said confidently. “This entire system of multiple worlds is full of feedback loops. Evidently, within it, exceptionally complex non-linear dynamics are realized. Remember the butterfly effect — for all its populism, it demonstrates an indisputable fact: the distance between chaotic trajectories in phase space — that is, the differences in the paths of the evolution of the system — can go from very small to extremely large. The tiniest changes in initial data can lead to global consequences — fairly quickly. Bridging the gap between incomparable scales for deterministic chaos is a trivial task!”
“It’s not a problem for me either,” Steven supported Kovitz. “I would even generalize Peter’s statement: all these phenomena involve some very complex dynamic processes, regardless of whether they are deterministically-chaotic or not. And dynamics can establish connections between scales inconceivable from the perspective of static structures. Let’s take, for example, a military train fully loaded with heavy tanks. Could, say, an ordinary mosquito interfere with its destiny? It would appear not — if all this mosquito did was to simply sit on the rails, hoping to bend them somehow, or smash into the windshield of the train’s locomotive. But imagine: a railway junction with a switchman manually moving the rails — and, at a crucial moment, that same mosquito bit into his neck, hitting some important nerve. Distracted by the acute pain, the switchman screams and slaps himself on the neck — and he is late in changing the switches or shifts them in the wrong direction. As a result – a collision with an oncoming train, tanks off the rail, the army’s defeat, a reshaping of the world... Such are the scales... And you have to admit, this situation, though a model one, is not completely impossible. And note, I only considered the simplest of reflexes — the reaction to pain. What if we factor in intellect, emotions, ambitions? Can you imagine what a few molecules of an aromatic substance might do to the world — the faint trace of the perfume of a beautiful stranger, inspiring someone to a great achievement...”
This issue is also addressed here.