a framework for understanding the physical nature of the mind
What is this essay about?
This essay is my humble, but serious, contribution towards identifying the steps necessary to resolve the apparently unbridgeable gap between the physics of the external world and the physics of the internal world of our minds. This gap, known as dualism, was formalised in the 1600s by Descartes, separating the objective world (res extensa) from the subjective world (res cogitans). It represents the fundamental, hitherto unexplained gap between neuroscience and phenomenology.
I will argue that is possible to bring these distinct domains under the single conceptual umbrella of Physics. It is possible to see the mind as a part of Nature, by binding these domains into one, where all phenomena are identified by their four-dimensional coordinates in time and space. This step is a necessary and sufficient condition for testing their physical existence and consequent scientific analysis. In other words, anything that exists must have four-dimensional coordinates.
Therefore, the question is not whether mental and cultural phenomena are physical, but rather, how can they be appropriately described and studied as four-dimensional structures.
Click here for a video of Marcello explaining the background and overview of this work.