(1) Integrated Information-Induced Quantum Collapse; (2) Expected Float Entropy Minimisation: A Relationship Content Theory of Consciousness

Integrated Information-Induced Quantum Collapse

The measurement problem in Quantum Mechanics is the problem of how (or whether) wave function collapse occurs when a system is measured by an observer. The development of Integrated Information Theory (IIT), for how the level of consciousness of a system might theoretically be quantified, provides new theoretical possibilities for the measurement problem. In this talk I present a novel spontaneous collapse model where size is no longer the property of a physical system which determines its rate of collapse. Instead, I argue that the rate of spontaneous localization should depend on a system’s quantum Integrated Information (QII), a novel physical property which describes a system’s capacity to act like a quantum observer.

Expected Float Entropy Minimisation: A Relationship Content Theory of Consciousness

Over recent decades several complementary mathematical theories of consciousness have been put forward including Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle and Giulio Tononi’s Integrated Information Theory. In contrast to these, in this talk I present the theory of Expected Float Entropy minimisation (EFE minimisation) which is an attempt to explain how the brain defines the content of consciousness up to relationship isomorphism and has been around since 2012. EFE involves a version of Shannon Entropy parameterised by relationships. For systems with bias due to learning, such as various cortical regions, certain choices for the relationship parameters are isolated since giving much lower EFE values than others and, hence, the system defines relationships. It is proposed that, in the context of all these relationships, a brain state acquires meaning in the form of the relational content of the associated experience.

Seminar by Kobi Kremnitzer and Jonathan Mason