VIRTUAL MAGICK
Speculations on Practice in the Electronic Astral Plane
VR Magick
We are entering an era of magical technologies which are relevant to the inner world of imagery and imagination. Through Virtual Reality (VR) we can create an electronic representation of typical symbols of the psyche and interact with them. Even though these images have no concrete existence, they are influential in the process of transformation. The practice of magick, a sacred technology, normally involves concentrated visualization activity coupled with immersion in the autonomous stream of consciousness. Since much of the training and practice in magick is based on a recipe, formula, or protocol, these could easily be programmed, using virtual reality, to guide an aspirant into a specific state of consciousness. Biofeedback monitoring could enhance that state.
Each virtual world would include a panoply of symbols related to a specific archetype. The aspirant would journey through this world. In the process of positive interaction with these archetypal forms (or perhaps imaginally becoming them), the psyche becomes "inoculated" with their resources. A conscious relationship is fostered. This leads to a greater sense of wholeness and communion with transpersonal energies. Through the arrival of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, we will soon have access to a fully programmable electronic "astral plane."
Magic has always been a sacred technology, and combining it with VR makes for a state-of-the-art practice. In virtual reality, we can create a world which is, in essence or effect, "as good as" normal reality. Through the use of visual, audial, kinesthetic, and olfactory feedback, the experiential (rather than analytical) part of the brain is guided to suspend its disbelief in the synthetic reality. The realization of a system of interactive fantasy will allow us, as artists or magicians, to shape the experience from the inside. It will allow us to re-shape ourselves, also.
A central premise in VR is that you can manipulate your self-representation, or self-image. VR represents a cultural revolution in the way we view reality, nature, art, ourselves, and our relationship with transpersonal powers. Interactive media will give us the ability to author moving images. When you can put your images in cyberspace, you introduce your own unique content into the experience. Background, or natural imagery, will be texture-mapped for ambiguity. Ambiguity is one key to the engagement of the imagination (Laurel, 1992).
Communal virtual reality is also possible for group rituals, but requires a tremendously powerful computer to keep track of all the details which perpetuate a believable virtual space. The realm of imagination has traditionally been the province of shamans and magicians. More recently, psychotherapists have entered the arena of imagination as guides to the heights and the depths. There are many different styles in the practice of magic from primitive to sophisticated. Magic is the ancient technology for dealing with lost or questing souls, while archetypal psychology is a modern counterpart. Basically, there are three ways of encountering the inner world, reflecting the state of consciousness of the practitioner:
1). prototaxic mode, a "possession" or trance state where the ego is absent through regression;
2). parataxic mode, which includes art, archetype, myth, dream, and ritual wherein the ego is enthralled; and
3). syntaxic mode, which includes creativity, gnosis, and higher mystical states, where the ego is enraptured and eventually transcended.
Sophisticated magick, or Theurgy, has been practiced in western occultism through the centuries largely by an elite group of eccentric intellectuals. Many of them identified with the Rosicrucians, Masons, Gnostics, or other "hidden" orders. These practitioners of the mystic arts were the forefathers of modern sciences like chemistry, botany, medicine, physics, astronomy, and philosophy.
Through magick, they learned a unique way of looking at the inner and outer world. This is the major premise of any philosophy: "Look at it like this..." The magical philosophy has left a tremendous legacy. The history of these alchemists, mystics, healers, and theurgists outlines one of the most interesting areas of human endeavor: consciousness studies. The mapping of consciousness states and their corresponding typical experiences (plus how to attain them) forms part of the doctrine of any magical philosophy.
The most widely embraced map is called The Tree of Life. The very foundation of the modern western occult tradition is contained in this circuit or glyph of The Tree of Life. It describes a hierarchy of 10 states of being (Spheres), and 22 characteristic modes of transition between them (Paths). All the corresponding symbolism of the human psyche is categorized according to this comprehensive basic structure. It represents all ways of being and becoming--all possible states of consciousness.
The philosophical system which the Tree represents originated in the Jewish culture. Through synchronism it amalgamated with the Gnostic, Egyptian, Arabic, and other systems. This synthesis became known as Hermetic Qabalism. In divorcing itself from its Hebrew roots, Qabala returned to the mythic domain of its informing archetype, Hermes. In ancient Egypt, this archetypal energy was represented by the god Thoth, Lord of Magic. He presided over skills such as writing and translating. In Greece, as Hermes, he was the messenger between the realm of the gods and men--he who could fly into the heights or depths.
Our modern forms of writing and translating have moved into information processing via computers. Information processing is fundamental to any form of communication. Information processing is the foundation of all technology. Thus, Hermes is the informing myth of a technological approach to sacred psychology and spirituality. Hermes' domain includes gnosticism, alchemy, magick, and depth psychology. Like programming, they are all hermeneutic endeavors, involving the process of interpretation.
Jung noticed that, "Every interpretation necessarily remains an "as-if." The ultimate core of meaning may be circumscribed, but not described." He refers to the "as-if" reality as the closest we can come to direct knowledge. For example, our God-image in the psyche is our closest (and only) experience of Divinity, however unique it may be. We perceive it directly, but it is a specific interpretation of the unknowable archetype.
MYTHICAL REALISM:
Ultimately, it is our sense organs which help us interpret the world and our experience through our perceptions. They help us make a distinction between what is "real" and "unreal." The emotional part of the brain, (the right, spatial lobe), cannot analytically distinguish a symbol from a symbolic representation. In imagination or virtual realityit becomes a moot point. Fantasy, in fact, animates both our inner and outer worlds, and creates meaning. The on-going imaginative process of the psyche is the ground of being. Jung spoke of the psychoid aspect of psyche as the vast non-human action of the universal forces.
Through the technology of virtual reality, we can take the imagery arising from deep within our psyche and create an "as-if" reality which we can enter at will. If magick is the art and science of changing consciousness at will, in this context, imagination is reality. It manifests as images. Jung implied that our closest approach to God or any minor deity is through the God-image. This brings to mind the process of invocation, or calling in the god-form in magick. The conjuring of these archetypal images, and identification or interaction with them is a primary application of ritual in theurgy.
In magick, it is taken virtually literally, as magician Dion Fortune's comment shows: ...the Ministrant proceeds boldly with the ceremony as if that which he had invoked had actually come about...He must have the courage of his convictions, and give himself up boldly to be the instrument of the forces he has invoked, relying upon them to bring about the transition from fantasy to fact, which is the meaning of transubstantiation. If he proceeds to play the part he has assigned himself as if it were a reality, he will find, provided the force he has invoked is a genuine force and the pictorial image he has made is a suitable one, that imagination has become reality and that an influence is flowing into him, and emanating from him, which is a very real thing indeed... Since archetypal images arise from the collective unconscious, they are common to all mankind.
The God-forms invoked in magick are the basis of our psychic life and our relationship to the universe. Everything we are is virtually imagined through their forces and forms. There is nothing but their primary essence to be found in either our concrete or imaginal reality, if psyche is the foundation of reality. Magic and archetypal psychology allege this is so. Jung advocated the practice of Active Imagination for transformation. He based his technique on the alchemical meditatio, or dialogic exchange with the transpersonal. It involves entering the autonomous stream of psychic imagery with the values, ethics, and perspective of the ego, and interacting therein.
Magick proposes a very similar premise, but has an entire technology for clearing out a purified psychic "space" into which an undiluted primal force may be called forth. Both techniques share the same result: a consciousness journey with real-time effects. Imagination is reality when it has the power to move us biologically, kinesthetically, viscerally, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The prospect of "home-brewed" imaginal worlds for exploration and recreation is on the horizon before the turn of the millennium. Those pursuing the age-old Quest or Great Work will certainly want to put this possibility to purposeful use. When a person becomes caught up in a ritual, visualization, or meditation, inner vs. outer becomes a moot point.
Imagination becomes a spontaneous influence which can be "seen" through the Observer Self. Magick is the directing of that experience in a specific direction, to a particular focus. Each ritual has its own telos, or goal. It is this striving, goal-oriented attitude of the ego that makes magick a heroic quest. We may speculate that similating archetypal forms in VR gives their transpersonal energy a "body" to inhabit, just as visualizing does. Chronicity (the propensity for archetypal forms and events to cyclically recur) and synchronicity (acausal connection) provide magically-charged energy for the simulated forms. All perceptions of archetypes are simulations of their unknowable primal nature, anyway. This holds true in mystical experience, art, and imagination.
According to Jung, archetypes are everywhere, so they will certainly be found in virtual reality, alive and well. In this form, they will be more accessible than ever. The novice could easily get a first-hand training experience in what inner dialogue is like. Archetypes will be just as inclined to inhabit or inform these virtual images as any other. In fact, there is no way around it, if the programs are consistent and coherent. With an artificial intelligence program added, they will behave with a certain degree of spontaneity and novelty, congruent with their character. VR conjures them, evokes them, or calls them up into awareness for interaction.
The imaginal character speaks and behaves in its characteristic manner, but reacts uniquely in each specific situation. The entire panoply of symbolic correspondences, for which the god-form is the nexus, could be displayed interactively for the aspirant. In the magical operation known as assumption of the god-form, the participant identifies with the archetypal power. In VR, the aspirant could experience being decked out in full regalia, with all the symbolic appurtenances, in an environment and atmosphere exclusively geared to expressing that power.
To role-play the characteristic utterances and acts of that god or goddess could be a further amplification of the process. Mythic journeys, programmed by master magicians, will be available like the electronic games of today. It could be used for accessing and anchoring transpersonal resources for the personality.
VIRTUAL BODIES OF LIGHT:
A major tenet of Qabala and occult philosophy concerns the nature of the astral body. The Jews call it the Tselem. This starry body is composed of scintillating etheric energy. It is perceived in imagination as being composed of light that takes on various fine forms. The analogy with electrical energy and light in cyberspace is obvious, if not literal. To work on the astral level, the magician identifies with this virtual double of the physical body. In imagination, one perceives with the eyes of the body of light while maintaining its perspective and orientation.
The light body has the ability of separating itself from the constraints of the flesh and blood body, without limitations of a mortal frame. The astral body contains the fully functioning consciousness of the aspirant. Its existence is alleged to persist after physical death, as reported by those with near-death-experiences. Magically, or psychically, the astral body is built in the imagination through the process of breath control, or pranayama.
The VR program supersedes the trained imaginative faculty. It opens the experience to those who are not of contemplative nature, those unwilling or unable to spend years training the mind and visualization capacity. It makes the dialogic realm open to all in limited form. It establishes a new medium for the traditional I-Thou dialogue. The virtual astral body could be employed for the practice of pathworking.
Magick, itself, is the practice of practical Qabala, and its most practical exploits are the imaginal consciousness journeys known as pathworking. As a magical practice, pathworking differs from ceremonial invocation by imaginally transporting the aspirant to the location of an archetypal Form, rather than calling the Form into the circle or oneself. The experience includes a "there-and-back-again" experience of a very specially conditioned terrain. The exposure to symbols keys processes in the mind which influence the process of transformation. The paths of The Tree of Life are metaphorical "in-roads" through the imagination. Each is marked by typical landmarks, milestones, and signposts. Each contain their ordeals, challenges, and intrinsic rewards.
Pathworking offers a way of "finding" or "locating" archetypes in imaginal space. In imagination, we do it simply by wishing ourselves there, actively interacting. In VR, it requires some programming, but the initial intent is the same whether creating your own program or authoring a master program for others. Each successive pathworking increases the area of perceptible inner space. One can enter the experience as a passive spectator, or as an active participant. The emotional impact of the experience is real. Imagine when these experiences become re-processed in your dream life! In VR, other humans could play the parts of entities encountered, or the journey may be undertaken as a common adventure.
All pathworkings return the traveler to the point of origin, which is usually some symbolic form of door to the netherworld. Another magical exercise, rising on the planes, is conducted while in the Body of Light. In this process, one imagines oneself moving further and further up through the hierarchy of planes described in the Qabala. You can get a sense for it if you can imagine an ever-widening perspective moving from sub-atomic to cosmic. For example, imagine you are a sub-atomic particle, an atom, a molecule, an organism, an animal, a human, the biosphere, the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, ad infinitum. All of this type of imagery is readily programmable and universal in meaning.
VIRTUAL SEX MAGICK:
When people hear of VR, one of the first application that leaps to mind is the possibility of virtual sex. Extending that idea into magical realism we come across the notion of virtual sex magick. Virtual sex magick awaits the development of tactile feedback systems. However, the act itself is a generator for surplus magical energy which may therefore be focused on a specific desire or intent. This is known as the "bud will" or "magickal child." It uses the emotional energy of enflamment coupled with the directive powers of will, visualization, and intentionality. Perhaps the most commonly recommended application of sex magick is for attaining "knowledge and conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel."
While this wasn't meant as "knowledge" in the Biblical sense, it is certainly a possibility in VR. The consummation of the act means either identification with, or dialogic interaction with the higher self. Most acts of sacred sex reenact the holy union (hierosgamos) of God and Goddess, Shiva and Shakti, Krisna and Radha, Yang and Yin forces. It is a cosmic union of complements. Here again is fertile ground for the programming of a VR reality to enhance the imaginative faculty. Imaginal variations on the mystic marriage could use images of mythical and historical figures or draw from the symbolism of Tantra, alchemy, and Taoism, to name a few. One might perceive the experience from the perspective of a particular god or goddess in a classical union.
Each program might contain one or many experiences of a similar nature. The menu might include the union of God and the Shekinah, God and Sophia, spirit and nature, anima/animus, priest/priestess, or King and Queen. One time you might be Solomon and Sheba, another Ares and Aphrodite, another Arthur and Guinevere. The Royal Marriage is a transcendent symbol of the Self, and embodies psychic totality. With plasticity of form and interaction we can only speculate what hermaphroditic creations might result, what androgynous beings. These experiences might not represent their mature psychological counterparts, but they could be inspiring dress-rehearsals, which jump-start the creative imagination, adding a new dimension to sexual life--sort of the reverse of pornography.
Normally, we are not taught to direct our thoughts into any higher purpose during sex, much less at the point of orgasm. Yet, to do so can be healing and connective in a very deep way. VR could serve as a model and demonstration far beyond any orthodox sexual therapy. Interactive fantasy could be raised to new heights. This technology could teach us new ways to relate to our bodies, sexuality, and art (including the art of magick). Virtual tantra is a new medium in the sexual arena. Another VR alternative for sex magick is to engage in actual sex with one's partner. Both parties have VR helmets (much reduced in size from current cumbersome models) which allow the simultaneous visualization of the "bud will," the "magickal child," or goal of the operation. This dynamic image is the focus of the lovers who invest it with their mutual energy and love to transform it from mere potential into a vital force for change in the real world.
VR insures that both parties visualizations are identical as possible. The moment just prior to orgasm is a very open, suggestible state. For some it is difficult to hold the magickal focus at that moment. Passive impregnation by the VR system (based on the aspirant's desires) could be readily accomplished at that point with suitable imagery. It could be a non-literal, yet post-symbolic way of conceiving an inner, spiritual "child" through ritual--the embryonic form of the greater self. Countless variations on magical talismans and mandalas might constitute part of the programming, as well as explosive imagery of cosmic union. For the Royal Wedding to be truly consummated, insights must be applied in practice. For it to fully work its magic, it requires a prior marriage of Anima and Animus within each aspirant. This is a form of "spiritual body" building.
Each virtual world would include a panoply of symbols related to a specific archetype. The aspirant would journey through this world. In the process of positive interaction with these archetypal forms (or perhaps imaginally becoming them), the psyche becomes "inoculated" with their resources. A conscious relationship is fostered. This leads to a greater sense of wholeness and communion with transpersonal energies. Through the arrival of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, we will soon have access to a fully programmable electronic "astral plane."
Magic has always been a sacred technology, and combining it with VR makes for a state-of-the-art practice. In virtual reality, we can create a world which is, in essence or effect, "as good as" normal reality. Through the use of visual, audial, kinesthetic, and olfactory feedback, the experiential (rather than analytical) part of the brain is guided to suspend its disbelief in the synthetic reality. The realization of a system of interactive fantasy will allow us, as artists or magicians, to shape the experience from the inside. It will allow us to re-shape ourselves, also.
A central premise in VR is that you can manipulate your self-representation, or self-image. VR represents a cultural revolution in the way we view reality, nature, art, ourselves, and our relationship with transpersonal powers. Interactive media will give us the ability to author moving images. When you can put your images in cyberspace, you introduce your own unique content into the experience. Background, or natural imagery, will be texture-mapped for ambiguity. Ambiguity is one key to the engagement of the imagination (Laurel, 1992).
Communal virtual reality is also possible for group rituals, but requires a tremendously powerful computer to keep track of all the details which perpetuate a believable virtual space. The realm of imagination has traditionally been the province of shamans and magicians. More recently, psychotherapists have entered the arena of imagination as guides to the heights and the depths. There are many different styles in the practice of magic from primitive to sophisticated. Magic is the ancient technology for dealing with lost or questing souls, while archetypal psychology is a modern counterpart. Basically, there are three ways of encountering the inner world, reflecting the state of consciousness of the practitioner:
1). prototaxic mode, a "possession" or trance state where the ego is absent through regression;
2). parataxic mode, which includes art, archetype, myth, dream, and ritual wherein the ego is enthralled; and
3). syntaxic mode, which includes creativity, gnosis, and higher mystical states, where the ego is enraptured and eventually transcended.
Sophisticated magick, or Theurgy, has been practiced in western occultism through the centuries largely by an elite group of eccentric intellectuals. Many of them identified with the Rosicrucians, Masons, Gnostics, or other "hidden" orders. These practitioners of the mystic arts were the forefathers of modern sciences like chemistry, botany, medicine, physics, astronomy, and philosophy.
Through magick, they learned a unique way of looking at the inner and outer world. This is the major premise of any philosophy: "Look at it like this..." The magical philosophy has left a tremendous legacy. The history of these alchemists, mystics, healers, and theurgists outlines one of the most interesting areas of human endeavor: consciousness studies. The mapping of consciousness states and their corresponding typical experiences (plus how to attain them) forms part of the doctrine of any magical philosophy.
The most widely embraced map is called The Tree of Life. The very foundation of the modern western occult tradition is contained in this circuit or glyph of The Tree of Life. It describes a hierarchy of 10 states of being (Spheres), and 22 characteristic modes of transition between them (Paths). All the corresponding symbolism of the human psyche is categorized according to this comprehensive basic structure. It represents all ways of being and becoming--all possible states of consciousness.
The philosophical system which the Tree represents originated in the Jewish culture. Through synchronism it amalgamated with the Gnostic, Egyptian, Arabic, and other systems. This synthesis became known as Hermetic Qabalism. In divorcing itself from its Hebrew roots, Qabala returned to the mythic domain of its informing archetype, Hermes. In ancient Egypt, this archetypal energy was represented by the god Thoth, Lord of Magic. He presided over skills such as writing and translating. In Greece, as Hermes, he was the messenger between the realm of the gods and men--he who could fly into the heights or depths.
Our modern forms of writing and translating have moved into information processing via computers. Information processing is fundamental to any form of communication. Information processing is the foundation of all technology. Thus, Hermes is the informing myth of a technological approach to sacred psychology and spirituality. Hermes' domain includes gnosticism, alchemy, magick, and depth psychology. Like programming, they are all hermeneutic endeavors, involving the process of interpretation.
Jung noticed that, "Every interpretation necessarily remains an "as-if." The ultimate core of meaning may be circumscribed, but not described." He refers to the "as-if" reality as the closest we can come to direct knowledge. For example, our God-image in the psyche is our closest (and only) experience of Divinity, however unique it may be. We perceive it directly, but it is a specific interpretation of the unknowable archetype.
MYTHICAL REALISM:
Ultimately, it is our sense organs which help us interpret the world and our experience through our perceptions. They help us make a distinction between what is "real" and "unreal." The emotional part of the brain, (the right, spatial lobe), cannot analytically distinguish a symbol from a symbolic representation. In imagination or virtual realityit becomes a moot point. Fantasy, in fact, animates both our inner and outer worlds, and creates meaning. The on-going imaginative process of the psyche is the ground of being. Jung spoke of the psychoid aspect of psyche as the vast non-human action of the universal forces.
Through the technology of virtual reality, we can take the imagery arising from deep within our psyche and create an "as-if" reality which we can enter at will. If magick is the art and science of changing consciousness at will, in this context, imagination is reality. It manifests as images. Jung implied that our closest approach to God or any minor deity is through the God-image. This brings to mind the process of invocation, or calling in the god-form in magick. The conjuring of these archetypal images, and identification or interaction with them is a primary application of ritual in theurgy.
In magick, it is taken virtually literally, as magician Dion Fortune's comment shows: ...the Ministrant proceeds boldly with the ceremony as if that which he had invoked had actually come about...He must have the courage of his convictions, and give himself up boldly to be the instrument of the forces he has invoked, relying upon them to bring about the transition from fantasy to fact, which is the meaning of transubstantiation. If he proceeds to play the part he has assigned himself as if it were a reality, he will find, provided the force he has invoked is a genuine force and the pictorial image he has made is a suitable one, that imagination has become reality and that an influence is flowing into him, and emanating from him, which is a very real thing indeed... Since archetypal images arise from the collective unconscious, they are common to all mankind.
The God-forms invoked in magick are the basis of our psychic life and our relationship to the universe. Everything we are is virtually imagined through their forces and forms. There is nothing but their primary essence to be found in either our concrete or imaginal reality, if psyche is the foundation of reality. Magic and archetypal psychology allege this is so. Jung advocated the practice of Active Imagination for transformation. He based his technique on the alchemical meditatio, or dialogic exchange with the transpersonal. It involves entering the autonomous stream of psychic imagery with the values, ethics, and perspective of the ego, and interacting therein.
Magick proposes a very similar premise, but has an entire technology for clearing out a purified psychic "space" into which an undiluted primal force may be called forth. Both techniques share the same result: a consciousness journey with real-time effects. Imagination is reality when it has the power to move us biologically, kinesthetically, viscerally, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The prospect of "home-brewed" imaginal worlds for exploration and recreation is on the horizon before the turn of the millennium. Those pursuing the age-old Quest or Great Work will certainly want to put this possibility to purposeful use. When a person becomes caught up in a ritual, visualization, or meditation, inner vs. outer becomes a moot point.
Imagination becomes a spontaneous influence which can be "seen" through the Observer Self. Magick is the directing of that experience in a specific direction, to a particular focus. Each ritual has its own telos, or goal. It is this striving, goal-oriented attitude of the ego that makes magick a heroic quest. We may speculate that similating archetypal forms in VR gives their transpersonal energy a "body" to inhabit, just as visualizing does. Chronicity (the propensity for archetypal forms and events to cyclically recur) and synchronicity (acausal connection) provide magically-charged energy for the simulated forms. All perceptions of archetypes are simulations of their unknowable primal nature, anyway. This holds true in mystical experience, art, and imagination.
According to Jung, archetypes are everywhere, so they will certainly be found in virtual reality, alive and well. In this form, they will be more accessible than ever. The novice could easily get a first-hand training experience in what inner dialogue is like. Archetypes will be just as inclined to inhabit or inform these virtual images as any other. In fact, there is no way around it, if the programs are consistent and coherent. With an artificial intelligence program added, they will behave with a certain degree of spontaneity and novelty, congruent with their character. VR conjures them, evokes them, or calls them up into awareness for interaction.
The imaginal character speaks and behaves in its characteristic manner, but reacts uniquely in each specific situation. The entire panoply of symbolic correspondences, for which the god-form is the nexus, could be displayed interactively for the aspirant. In the magical operation known as assumption of the god-form, the participant identifies with the archetypal power. In VR, the aspirant could experience being decked out in full regalia, with all the symbolic appurtenances, in an environment and atmosphere exclusively geared to expressing that power.
To role-play the characteristic utterances and acts of that god or goddess could be a further amplification of the process. Mythic journeys, programmed by master magicians, will be available like the electronic games of today. It could be used for accessing and anchoring transpersonal resources for the personality.
VIRTUAL BODIES OF LIGHT:
A major tenet of Qabala and occult philosophy concerns the nature of the astral body. The Jews call it the Tselem. This starry body is composed of scintillating etheric energy. It is perceived in imagination as being composed of light that takes on various fine forms. The analogy with electrical energy and light in cyberspace is obvious, if not literal. To work on the astral level, the magician identifies with this virtual double of the physical body. In imagination, one perceives with the eyes of the body of light while maintaining its perspective and orientation.
The light body has the ability of separating itself from the constraints of the flesh and blood body, without limitations of a mortal frame. The astral body contains the fully functioning consciousness of the aspirant. Its existence is alleged to persist after physical death, as reported by those with near-death-experiences. Magically, or psychically, the astral body is built in the imagination through the process of breath control, or pranayama.
The VR program supersedes the trained imaginative faculty. It opens the experience to those who are not of contemplative nature, those unwilling or unable to spend years training the mind and visualization capacity. It makes the dialogic realm open to all in limited form. It establishes a new medium for the traditional I-Thou dialogue. The virtual astral body could be employed for the practice of pathworking.
Magick, itself, is the practice of practical Qabala, and its most practical exploits are the imaginal consciousness journeys known as pathworking. As a magical practice, pathworking differs from ceremonial invocation by imaginally transporting the aspirant to the location of an archetypal Form, rather than calling the Form into the circle or oneself. The experience includes a "there-and-back-again" experience of a very specially conditioned terrain. The exposure to symbols keys processes in the mind which influence the process of transformation. The paths of The Tree of Life are metaphorical "in-roads" through the imagination. Each is marked by typical landmarks, milestones, and signposts. Each contain their ordeals, challenges, and intrinsic rewards.
Pathworking offers a way of "finding" or "locating" archetypes in imaginal space. In imagination, we do it simply by wishing ourselves there, actively interacting. In VR, it requires some programming, but the initial intent is the same whether creating your own program or authoring a master program for others. Each successive pathworking increases the area of perceptible inner space. One can enter the experience as a passive spectator, or as an active participant. The emotional impact of the experience is real. Imagine when these experiences become re-processed in your dream life! In VR, other humans could play the parts of entities encountered, or the journey may be undertaken as a common adventure.
All pathworkings return the traveler to the point of origin, which is usually some symbolic form of door to the netherworld. Another magical exercise, rising on the planes, is conducted while in the Body of Light. In this process, one imagines oneself moving further and further up through the hierarchy of planes described in the Qabala. You can get a sense for it if you can imagine an ever-widening perspective moving from sub-atomic to cosmic. For example, imagine you are a sub-atomic particle, an atom, a molecule, an organism, an animal, a human, the biosphere, the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, ad infinitum. All of this type of imagery is readily programmable and universal in meaning.
VIRTUAL SEX MAGICK:
When people hear of VR, one of the first application that leaps to mind is the possibility of virtual sex. Extending that idea into magical realism we come across the notion of virtual sex magick. Virtual sex magick awaits the development of tactile feedback systems. However, the act itself is a generator for surplus magical energy which may therefore be focused on a specific desire or intent. This is known as the "bud will" or "magickal child." It uses the emotional energy of enflamment coupled with the directive powers of will, visualization, and intentionality. Perhaps the most commonly recommended application of sex magick is for attaining "knowledge and conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel."
While this wasn't meant as "knowledge" in the Biblical sense, it is certainly a possibility in VR. The consummation of the act means either identification with, or dialogic interaction with the higher self. Most acts of sacred sex reenact the holy union (hierosgamos) of God and Goddess, Shiva and Shakti, Krisna and Radha, Yang and Yin forces. It is a cosmic union of complements. Here again is fertile ground for the programming of a VR reality to enhance the imaginative faculty. Imaginal variations on the mystic marriage could use images of mythical and historical figures or draw from the symbolism of Tantra, alchemy, and Taoism, to name a few. One might perceive the experience from the perspective of a particular god or goddess in a classical union.
Each program might contain one or many experiences of a similar nature. The menu might include the union of God and the Shekinah, God and Sophia, spirit and nature, anima/animus, priest/priestess, or King and Queen. One time you might be Solomon and Sheba, another Ares and Aphrodite, another Arthur and Guinevere. The Royal Marriage is a transcendent symbol of the Self, and embodies psychic totality. With plasticity of form and interaction we can only speculate what hermaphroditic creations might result, what androgynous beings. These experiences might not represent their mature psychological counterparts, but they could be inspiring dress-rehearsals, which jump-start the creative imagination, adding a new dimension to sexual life--sort of the reverse of pornography.
Normally, we are not taught to direct our thoughts into any higher purpose during sex, much less at the point of orgasm. Yet, to do so can be healing and connective in a very deep way. VR could serve as a model and demonstration far beyond any orthodox sexual therapy. Interactive fantasy could be raised to new heights. This technology could teach us new ways to relate to our bodies, sexuality, and art (including the art of magick). Virtual tantra is a new medium in the sexual arena. Another VR alternative for sex magick is to engage in actual sex with one's partner. Both parties have VR helmets (much reduced in size from current cumbersome models) which allow the simultaneous visualization of the "bud will," the "magickal child," or goal of the operation. This dynamic image is the focus of the lovers who invest it with their mutual energy and love to transform it from mere potential into a vital force for change in the real world.
VR insures that both parties visualizations are identical as possible. The moment just prior to orgasm is a very open, suggestible state. For some it is difficult to hold the magickal focus at that moment. Passive impregnation by the VR system (based on the aspirant's desires) could be readily accomplished at that point with suitable imagery. It could be a non-literal, yet post-symbolic way of conceiving an inner, spiritual "child" through ritual--the embryonic form of the greater self. Countless variations on magical talismans and mandalas might constitute part of the programming, as well as explosive imagery of cosmic union. For the Royal Wedding to be truly consummated, insights must be applied in practice. For it to fully work its magic, it requires a prior marriage of Anima and Animus within each aspirant. This is a form of "spiritual body" building.
VIRTUAL REALITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS
Glenn Cartwright, 1993
For most of the last century the study of human consciousness has been almost a taboo subject, in a field dominated by the behaviorists. Today scientists working on virtual reality (VR) applications have given little thought to the effect of VR on consciousness. Three years ago, some of these questions began to be explored at McGill University in an experimental graduate course entitled Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education. The object of the course was to explore how the new technology of VR and the creation of cyberspace will force us to re-examine our notions of human consciousness and may finally provide us with the tools for further exploration. Many questions remain to be answered. What happens to the normal mind when it loses contact with reality? What happens when we enter an alternate reality and cannot distinguish it from the real thing? What will happens to us if we become lost in cyberspace? This paper discusses some of the possible psychological phenomena associated with VR and cyberspace including disembodiment, gender swapping, virtual ego-centers, and distributed being, and warns of possible psychotic breaks for those at risk and those who misuse the technology.
Virtual Reality and Cyberspace
Although virtual reality has been with us throughout millennia in the form of imagination, literature, theater, and more recently in the modern media of radio, film, and television, today the term virtual reality has come to mean a specific kind of computer-mediated, multisensory experience designed to trick our senses to convince us we are "in another world." At present, only the computer holds the potential for dynamically controlling and synchronizing input to all the senses (Cartwright & Silva, in press.)
One might, then, define VR as the complete computer control of the senses. VR becomes a way of sensing/feeling/thinking. The computer controls sensation by controlling the input to the senses, altering in turn experience, emotion, and ultimately thought. New perceptions and ideas arise as a consequence of the modified sensory input.
Cyberspace is the sharing of two or more virtual realities. For example, operating a virtual puppet in a video game represents a virtual reality. When another player's puppet enters your puppet's space and begins to interact, the common space they share is known as cyberspace. Just as VR is a way of sensing/feeling/thinking, so cyberspace becomes a way of communicating/participating/working. By entering the world of cyberspace, we can change how we communicate, how we participate and interact with one another, and how we work together. Again, new thoughts, perceptions, and ideas begin to emerge as a result of the interactions in cyberspace.
Immersion
The more senses that are involved at once, the more immersed one may become in VR and the harder it may be to distinguish reality. Research is continuing to determine the parameters which define immersion. For example, it has been found that a feeling of visual immersion occurs only when the field of view is 60° or greater (Howlett, 1990; Psotka, 1993). Because the senses normally work together to channel input to the brain, manipulating all the sensory inputs fosters the perception of an alternate reality. The participant feels part of another world -- a virtual world -- and a feeling of total immersion may occur.
Consciousness
For most of this century, as the unreliable techniques of introspection and self-report fell into disfavor, the study of human consciousness became almost taboo in a field dominated by the more operationally orientated behaviorists. Introspection lacked reliability and therefore validity. This is proving to be an unfortunate state of affairs. Since VR is dependent on psychological processes like perception which are intimately associated with conscious activity, at precisely the time we need to know more about consciousness, we find a dearth of knowledge.
Becoming Lost in Cyberspace
Few scientists today working on VR applications have considered the effects of VR on consciousness. Yet many questions remain to be answered. What happens to the normal mind when it loses contact with reality? What happens when we enter an alternate reality and cannot tell the difference from the real world? What will happen if we find we cannot, or do not want to, return to reality? What will happen to us if we become lost in cyberspace?
Strangely, VR developers seem unconcerned by the prospect of launching individuals into another reality. Fewer still have given any thought as to whether or not all cybernauts will return safely, unscathed by their experience.
Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education
In 1991, an experimental graduate course on Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education was developed at McGill University in Montreal. Its objective was to explore how the new technology of VR and the creation of cyberspace will force us to re-examine our notions of human consciousness and to understand how VR may finally provide us with new tools for its further exploration. From a VR perspective, course participants reviewed both classical and contemporary theories of consciousness in an attempt to determine the ways in which VR might impinge on both conscious and unconscious psychological processes and the possible outcomes. Students in the course also engaged in an on-line computer conference to discuss these issues.
Going Over the (Cyber) Edge
One of the major concerns expressed by the participants was the degree to which VR might prove harmful. Some physical dangers associated with VR are already known. For example, headmounted displays have been found to cause disorientation, vertigo, and nausea. Little is known, however, of those aspects of VR which may interfere with normal psychological processes. It is possible that interference with these processes may put certain "at risk" individuals in mental and/or emotional peril. Those who are at risk include drug users, those already suffering serious mental illness like schizophrenia or other psychosis, and the emotionally unstable. Even those with minor neuroses or perceptual problems may find their sensations and reactions exaggerated in cyberspace compared with "normal" individuals and their residual memories and learning distorted on returning to reality.
Psychological Aspects of Virtual Reality/Cyberspace
In addition to differentially affecting individuals at risk, others who are not at risk may find difficulty in adjusting to a new psychology in VR. Ordinary psychological principles which we take for granted in the real world either do not exist or operate quite differently in the virtual world. Here are some differences:
1. Reality Contact
Reality contact is often used by psychiatrists as a measure of successful adjustment and an indicator of mental health. In fact, lack of reality contact is often associated with poor adjustment or mental illness. Paradoxically, it is precisely the loss of some reality contact which is the price of admission to the virtual world.
In the real world, major disturbances in perception often indicative of schizophrenia are various forms of hallucinations which can occur in all sense modalities. Yet VR is the deliberate manipulation of the senses to produce a kind of hallucinatory state. The difference, of course, is that the VR voyager is presumably a willing traveller, and the experience is controlled. Nevertheless, one cannot help note with interest how involuntary hallucinations are classified as mental illness, while voluntary hallucinations are simply VR tripping. It is certainly true that unwilling or unsuspecting VR participants might think they were experiencing mental illness or at the very least "a bad trip." One has to conclude that there is only a very fine line separating certain kinds of VR from some schizophrenic-like states.
2. Parallel communication/parallel lives
During the exploratory McGill course, students participated in a computer conference as part of their assignment. Later analysis of the conference data indicated that the discussion which took place during the conference consisted of material, including personal experiences, that were not discussed during the seminar. It was as if the computer conference were a parallel form of communication and that the sharing which took place there occurred on a different plane. To a casual observer, the conference proceedings would appear to have taken place among different individuals than those in the class. To the informed observer, the communication was clearly of a parallel variety concerning a somewhat different aspect of existence -- a kind of parallel life.
In this same manner, it has been reported that participants in MUDs (multi-user dungeons -- a form of social computer gaming) often create whole parallel lives and have been known to spend as many as 120 hours a week on the machine (Turkle, 1993). Their interactions over the Internet (a network of computer networks) take on the semblance of a parallel life, often with a completely different set of physical, social, and emotional attributes. While critics have decried this fixation as dangerous, others have suggested that the computer games provide an opportunity to explore usually unavailable aspects of the self (Turkle, 1993). In this sense, MUDding can be both instructive and therapeutic.
3. Alternate Realities/Altered States
Myron Krueger's original term for "virtual reality" was "artificial reality" and it implied the deliberate creation of an alternate reality. Alternate realities are associated with altered states. As early as the mid-seventies, computer conferencing was recognized as an "altered state" of communication (Johansen, Miller, & Vallee, 1974; Vallee, 1974; Vallee, Johansen, & Spangler, 1975; Cartwright, 1977). The creation the first MUD in 1979 lent a recreational aspect to the computer communication and today work is progressing to improve social virtual reality by the addition of audio, video, and interactive windows to MUDs (Curtis & Nichols, 1993). At the same time MUDding is growing: Turkle (1993) reports 207 multi-user games based thirteen different kinds of software resident on the Internet as of Fall, 1992.
In the future, the Internet will begin to support more and more non-textual applications. Talk Internet already exists and on May 22, 1993, "Wax or the discovery of television among the bees" became the first movie to be transmitted, however crudely, over the Internet. As more and more non-textual applications find their way onto the Internet, the number and variety of alternate realities producing altered states will increase. It is highly possible that the quality of these altered states may range from broad euphoria to mild dislocation to severe psychotic breakdown.
4. Disembodiment/Embodiment
One of the remarkable things about virtual reality/cyberspace is the potential not only to shed one's body, but to gain a new and perhaps vastly different body. Disembodiment is necessary, some might say a prerequisite, to leaving the real world. However, re-materialization in a virtual body is not required to visit some types of cyberspace. For example, electronically flitting about the current textual Internet (Kehoe, 1993; Krol, 1993; LaQuey, 1993) and browsing in the virtual libraries of the world does not require a cyberbody. Neither does using the Internet as a virtual laboratory or classroom. Similarly, the use of Usenet, bulletin boards, and e-mail require no artificial body. However, certain types of game playing, acting, dancing, and simulated physical activities will require cyberbodies, perhaps different senses, strengths, skills, and abilities. Given a new body in VR, would a quadriplegic want to return to the real world? And what would such an eventuality mean for the real world? What would happen to spinal cord research if it were found to be far cheaper to supply paralyzed victims with perfect virtual bodies? Telepresence is a kind of out-of-body experience (Rheingold, 1991) and surrogate travel will soon be possible on a large scale. How will we deal with the depression and the "electronically-mediated schizophrenia" (Pesce, 1993) that may result from sending millions of people to experience the sickness, squalor, and death observed in developing nations? Says Pesce (1993):
In its purest sense, telepresence, one of the simplest and most direct of all holosthetic technologies, creates a profound sense of disembodiment, one that in almost any other state of being would be called pathogenic.
5. Gender Swapping
In the cyberworld, one is neither expected nor required to keep real world attributes like size or gender. Consequently, the cyberworld becomes a place of experimentation and exploration. It is possible to explore different aspects of one's self, to examine one's identity. One of the earliest experimentations observed was the phenomenon of gender swapping: the deliberate assumption of the opposite gender as an experiment to "try on" a different persona so as to experience a different facet of existence. Sometimes it can become complicated, as Turkle (1993) has observed:
"This is more real than my real life," says a character who turns out to be a man playing a woman who is pretending to be a man. In this game the rules of social interaction are built not received.
One can be any gender on the Net. And while a counterfeit gender might be disappointing to a potential suitor, it appears to have satisfied a need in some to understand deeper issues like sexual harassment and to explore the social construction of gender.
MUDding throws issues of the impact of gender on human relations into high relief and brings the issue home; the seriousness and intensity of discussions of gender among MUDders speaks to the fact that the game allows its players to experience rather than merely observe what it feels like to be the opposite gender or to have no gender at all (Turkle, 1993).
6. Virtual Ego-Center
With the computer controlling and extending our senses, it becomes possible to project one's ego-center away from its usually perceived site to another location. Relocating the ego-center is not unknown in history: during the middle ages people perceived their ego-centers as the heart, while today they are more likely to perceive the brain as the seat of the self. However, the prospect of electronically projecting the ego-center to a virtual body or to any virtual space beyond the real body is a totally new phenomenon.
7. Decentered Self
Creating a virtual ego-center decenters the self. Such decentering can be illuminating and instructive or destabilizing and destructive. It is wonderful to imagine that VR will facilitate the decentering process fostering increased charity, empathy, and compassion. The risk, however, is that in some individuals the decentering process may produce weakened self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness and insignificance. Such a downward slide could be dangerous to the integrity of the real person and in extreme cases lead to self-destructive acts.
8. Multiple Identity
If it is possible in VR to enter an altered state, become disembodied, swap genders, assume a different identity, create a virtual ego-center, and decenter the self, then it may also be possible to assume more than one identity at the same time. In this connection, the exponential increase in multiple personalty disorder in recent decades is of more than passing interest (Dennett, 1988) Often viewed as a manifestation of mental illness or personality disorder in the real world, in cyberspace, multiple serial and simultaneous personæ are not only possible but may be even be encouraged.
9. Distributed Being
If one can assume multiple identities, either serially or simultaneously, then it is possible that the self can be re-integrated: re-created as a single entity with multiple egocenters. This is broadly representative of a kind of distributed being, the nature of which is interesting to ponder. How might such persons differ from an ordinary individual? Might they excel at problem solving -- see the problem from different angles at once -- yet be intolerant of others who had not attained the same perceptual proficiency? Might distributed being prove to be the path to enlightenment? Though no one knows the answers to these questions, the prospect of being able to distribute one's being easily through cyberspace is likely to result in a reshaped personality, improved understanding, increased compassion, and heightened global awareness.
10. Dissociative Reactions and Psychotic Breaks
The potential that VR presents has serious implications for social interaction, for human consciousness, and for what it means to be human. More urgent are its serious implications for mental health, particularly for those on drugs, and those with existing reality impairment and mental or emotional illness. Anticipating William Gibson's Neuromancer and the Cyberpunk gendre came the warning:
For psychiatry, the message is clear: the symbionic technology of the 21st century may bring with it new kinds emotional disturbance, and new kinds of mental illness. If hysteria characterized the 19th century, and anxiety the 20th century, the 21st century may well be the century of what we might call the "symbionic syndrome": technologicallyinduced disaffect characterized by increased existential loneliness, alienation, powerlessness, and disembodiment (Cartwright, 1983).
The dangers inherent in virtual reality and cyberspace are real: As Pesce (1993) has noted, cyberspace can hurt you! One can well imagine a future Cyberspace Travel Advisory: "Visitors to cyberspace today reported a number of psychotic breaks and pathogenic states. Only travellers who are well equipped emotionally and who understand the psychological terrain should venture there. If you must go, exercise caution!" References
Cartwright, Glenn F. (1977). Computer conferencing as an educational tool. Learning and Development, 8(5), 1-4.
Cartwright, Glenn F. (1983). Toward a new level of awareness: Symbionic consciousness. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Social Psychiatry, New York.
Cartwright, Glenn F. & Silva, Marcos R. (in press). Cyberteaching: Teaching about and within cyberspace. Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference on Multimedia in Education and Industry. Savannah, GA.
Curtis, P. & Nichols, D. (1993). MUDs grow up: Social virtual reality in the Real world. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Dennett, Daniel. (1988). The evolution of consciousness. The Jacobsen Lecture, University of London. Medford, MA: Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University.
Gibson, William (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books.
Howlett, E. M. (1990). Wide angle orthostereo. In Merritt, J. O. and Fisher, S. S. (Eds.) Stereoscopic displays and Applications. Bellingham, WA: The International Society for Optical Engineering.
Johansen, R., Miller, R., & Vallee, J. (1974). Group communication through electronic media: Fundamental choices and social effects. Educational Technology, 14, 7-20.
Jouzaitis, C. (1993). The data highway on its way. Chicago Tribune, May 10, pp. C1, C4.
Kehoe, B. (1993). Zen and the art of the internet: a beginner's guide. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Krol, Ed. (1993). The whole Internet: user's guide & catalog [Corr. ed.]. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates.
LaQuey, T. (1993). The Internet companion: a beginner's guide to global networking. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley.
Lincoln, B., & Kahle, B. ([1992]). WAIS: Wide Area Information Servers. Menlo Park, CA: Thinking Machines.
Lottor, M. (1993). Internet Domain Survey. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. [Computer file, sent to various listserv discussion groups by [email protected]]
Pesce, M. (1993). Final amputation: Pathogenic ontology in cyberspace. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Psotka, J. (1993). Factors affecting the location of virtual egocenters: From the renaissance to cyberspace. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Rheingold, Howard. (1991). Virtual Reality. New York, NY: Touchstone.
Sakkas, L. (1993). Politics on the Internet. Interpersonal Computing and Technology: an electronic Journal for the 21st Century, 1(2). [Computer file, to retrieve send the following e-mail message to LISTSERV@GUVM or LISTSERVGUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU, GET SAKKAS IPCTV1N2]
Silva, Marcos, & Cartwright, Glenn F. (in press). The Internet as a Medium for Education and Educational Research. Education Libraries.
Silva, Marcos, & Cartwright, Glenn F. (1992). The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE). The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 3, 4-14. [Computer file, to retrieve send the following e-mail message to LISTSERVUHUPVM1 or LISTSERVUHUPVM1.UH.EDU, GET SILVA PRV3N6 F=MAIL]
Turkle, S. (1993). Constructions and reconstructions of the self in virtual reality. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Vallee, J. (1974). Network conferencing. Datamation, 20(5), 8592.
Vallee, J., Johansen, R., and Spangler, K. (1975, June). The computer conference: An altered state of communication? The Futurist. 3, 116121.
For most of the last century the study of human consciousness has been almost a taboo subject, in a field dominated by the behaviorists. Today scientists working on virtual reality (VR) applications have given little thought to the effect of VR on consciousness. Three years ago, some of these questions began to be explored at McGill University in an experimental graduate course entitled Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education. The object of the course was to explore how the new technology of VR and the creation of cyberspace will force us to re-examine our notions of human consciousness and may finally provide us with the tools for further exploration. Many questions remain to be answered. What happens to the normal mind when it loses contact with reality? What happens when we enter an alternate reality and cannot distinguish it from the real thing? What will happens to us if we become lost in cyberspace? This paper discusses some of the possible psychological phenomena associated with VR and cyberspace including disembodiment, gender swapping, virtual ego-centers, and distributed being, and warns of possible psychotic breaks for those at risk and those who misuse the technology.
Virtual Reality and Cyberspace
Although virtual reality has been with us throughout millennia in the form of imagination, literature, theater, and more recently in the modern media of radio, film, and television, today the term virtual reality has come to mean a specific kind of computer-mediated, multisensory experience designed to trick our senses to convince us we are "in another world." At present, only the computer holds the potential for dynamically controlling and synchronizing input to all the senses (Cartwright & Silva, in press.)
One might, then, define VR as the complete computer control of the senses. VR becomes a way of sensing/feeling/thinking. The computer controls sensation by controlling the input to the senses, altering in turn experience, emotion, and ultimately thought. New perceptions and ideas arise as a consequence of the modified sensory input.
Cyberspace is the sharing of two or more virtual realities. For example, operating a virtual puppet in a video game represents a virtual reality. When another player's puppet enters your puppet's space and begins to interact, the common space they share is known as cyberspace. Just as VR is a way of sensing/feeling/thinking, so cyberspace becomes a way of communicating/participating/working. By entering the world of cyberspace, we can change how we communicate, how we participate and interact with one another, and how we work together. Again, new thoughts, perceptions, and ideas begin to emerge as a result of the interactions in cyberspace.
Immersion
The more senses that are involved at once, the more immersed one may become in VR and the harder it may be to distinguish reality. Research is continuing to determine the parameters which define immersion. For example, it has been found that a feeling of visual immersion occurs only when the field of view is 60° or greater (Howlett, 1990; Psotka, 1993). Because the senses normally work together to channel input to the brain, manipulating all the sensory inputs fosters the perception of an alternate reality. The participant feels part of another world -- a virtual world -- and a feeling of total immersion may occur.
Consciousness
For most of this century, as the unreliable techniques of introspection and self-report fell into disfavor, the study of human consciousness became almost taboo in a field dominated by the more operationally orientated behaviorists. Introspection lacked reliability and therefore validity. This is proving to be an unfortunate state of affairs. Since VR is dependent on psychological processes like perception which are intimately associated with conscious activity, at precisely the time we need to know more about consciousness, we find a dearth of knowledge.
Becoming Lost in Cyberspace
Few scientists today working on VR applications have considered the effects of VR on consciousness. Yet many questions remain to be answered. What happens to the normal mind when it loses contact with reality? What happens when we enter an alternate reality and cannot tell the difference from the real world? What will happen if we find we cannot, or do not want to, return to reality? What will happen to us if we become lost in cyberspace?
Strangely, VR developers seem unconcerned by the prospect of launching individuals into another reality. Fewer still have given any thought as to whether or not all cybernauts will return safely, unscathed by their experience.
Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education
In 1991, an experimental graduate course on Consciousness, Virtual Reality, and Cyberspace in Education was developed at McGill University in Montreal. Its objective was to explore how the new technology of VR and the creation of cyberspace will force us to re-examine our notions of human consciousness and to understand how VR may finally provide us with new tools for its further exploration. From a VR perspective, course participants reviewed both classical and contemporary theories of consciousness in an attempt to determine the ways in which VR might impinge on both conscious and unconscious psychological processes and the possible outcomes. Students in the course also engaged in an on-line computer conference to discuss these issues.
Going Over the (Cyber) Edge
One of the major concerns expressed by the participants was the degree to which VR might prove harmful. Some physical dangers associated with VR are already known. For example, headmounted displays have been found to cause disorientation, vertigo, and nausea. Little is known, however, of those aspects of VR which may interfere with normal psychological processes. It is possible that interference with these processes may put certain "at risk" individuals in mental and/or emotional peril. Those who are at risk include drug users, those already suffering serious mental illness like schizophrenia or other psychosis, and the emotionally unstable. Even those with minor neuroses or perceptual problems may find their sensations and reactions exaggerated in cyberspace compared with "normal" individuals and their residual memories and learning distorted on returning to reality.
Psychological Aspects of Virtual Reality/Cyberspace
In addition to differentially affecting individuals at risk, others who are not at risk may find difficulty in adjusting to a new psychology in VR. Ordinary psychological principles which we take for granted in the real world either do not exist or operate quite differently in the virtual world. Here are some differences:
1. Reality Contact
Reality contact is often used by psychiatrists as a measure of successful adjustment and an indicator of mental health. In fact, lack of reality contact is often associated with poor adjustment or mental illness. Paradoxically, it is precisely the loss of some reality contact which is the price of admission to the virtual world.
In the real world, major disturbances in perception often indicative of schizophrenia are various forms of hallucinations which can occur in all sense modalities. Yet VR is the deliberate manipulation of the senses to produce a kind of hallucinatory state. The difference, of course, is that the VR voyager is presumably a willing traveller, and the experience is controlled. Nevertheless, one cannot help note with interest how involuntary hallucinations are classified as mental illness, while voluntary hallucinations are simply VR tripping. It is certainly true that unwilling or unsuspecting VR participants might think they were experiencing mental illness or at the very least "a bad trip." One has to conclude that there is only a very fine line separating certain kinds of VR from some schizophrenic-like states.
2. Parallel communication/parallel lives
During the exploratory McGill course, students participated in a computer conference as part of their assignment. Later analysis of the conference data indicated that the discussion which took place during the conference consisted of material, including personal experiences, that were not discussed during the seminar. It was as if the computer conference were a parallel form of communication and that the sharing which took place there occurred on a different plane. To a casual observer, the conference proceedings would appear to have taken place among different individuals than those in the class. To the informed observer, the communication was clearly of a parallel variety concerning a somewhat different aspect of existence -- a kind of parallel life.
In this same manner, it has been reported that participants in MUDs (multi-user dungeons -- a form of social computer gaming) often create whole parallel lives and have been known to spend as many as 120 hours a week on the machine (Turkle, 1993). Their interactions over the Internet (a network of computer networks) take on the semblance of a parallel life, often with a completely different set of physical, social, and emotional attributes. While critics have decried this fixation as dangerous, others have suggested that the computer games provide an opportunity to explore usually unavailable aspects of the self (Turkle, 1993). In this sense, MUDding can be both instructive and therapeutic.
3. Alternate Realities/Altered States
Myron Krueger's original term for "virtual reality" was "artificial reality" and it implied the deliberate creation of an alternate reality. Alternate realities are associated with altered states. As early as the mid-seventies, computer conferencing was recognized as an "altered state" of communication (Johansen, Miller, & Vallee, 1974; Vallee, 1974; Vallee, Johansen, & Spangler, 1975; Cartwright, 1977). The creation the first MUD in 1979 lent a recreational aspect to the computer communication and today work is progressing to improve social virtual reality by the addition of audio, video, and interactive windows to MUDs (Curtis & Nichols, 1993). At the same time MUDding is growing: Turkle (1993) reports 207 multi-user games based thirteen different kinds of software resident on the Internet as of Fall, 1992.
In the future, the Internet will begin to support more and more non-textual applications. Talk Internet already exists and on May 22, 1993, "Wax or the discovery of television among the bees" became the first movie to be transmitted, however crudely, over the Internet. As more and more non-textual applications find their way onto the Internet, the number and variety of alternate realities producing altered states will increase. It is highly possible that the quality of these altered states may range from broad euphoria to mild dislocation to severe psychotic breakdown.
4. Disembodiment/Embodiment
One of the remarkable things about virtual reality/cyberspace is the potential not only to shed one's body, but to gain a new and perhaps vastly different body. Disembodiment is necessary, some might say a prerequisite, to leaving the real world. However, re-materialization in a virtual body is not required to visit some types of cyberspace. For example, electronically flitting about the current textual Internet (Kehoe, 1993; Krol, 1993; LaQuey, 1993) and browsing in the virtual libraries of the world does not require a cyberbody. Neither does using the Internet as a virtual laboratory or classroom. Similarly, the use of Usenet, bulletin boards, and e-mail require no artificial body. However, certain types of game playing, acting, dancing, and simulated physical activities will require cyberbodies, perhaps different senses, strengths, skills, and abilities. Given a new body in VR, would a quadriplegic want to return to the real world? And what would such an eventuality mean for the real world? What would happen to spinal cord research if it were found to be far cheaper to supply paralyzed victims with perfect virtual bodies? Telepresence is a kind of out-of-body experience (Rheingold, 1991) and surrogate travel will soon be possible on a large scale. How will we deal with the depression and the "electronically-mediated schizophrenia" (Pesce, 1993) that may result from sending millions of people to experience the sickness, squalor, and death observed in developing nations? Says Pesce (1993):
In its purest sense, telepresence, one of the simplest and most direct of all holosthetic technologies, creates a profound sense of disembodiment, one that in almost any other state of being would be called pathogenic.
5. Gender Swapping
In the cyberworld, one is neither expected nor required to keep real world attributes like size or gender. Consequently, the cyberworld becomes a place of experimentation and exploration. It is possible to explore different aspects of one's self, to examine one's identity. One of the earliest experimentations observed was the phenomenon of gender swapping: the deliberate assumption of the opposite gender as an experiment to "try on" a different persona so as to experience a different facet of existence. Sometimes it can become complicated, as Turkle (1993) has observed:
"This is more real than my real life," says a character who turns out to be a man playing a woman who is pretending to be a man. In this game the rules of social interaction are built not received.
One can be any gender on the Net. And while a counterfeit gender might be disappointing to a potential suitor, it appears to have satisfied a need in some to understand deeper issues like sexual harassment and to explore the social construction of gender.
MUDding throws issues of the impact of gender on human relations into high relief and brings the issue home; the seriousness and intensity of discussions of gender among MUDders speaks to the fact that the game allows its players to experience rather than merely observe what it feels like to be the opposite gender or to have no gender at all (Turkle, 1993).
6. Virtual Ego-Center
With the computer controlling and extending our senses, it becomes possible to project one's ego-center away from its usually perceived site to another location. Relocating the ego-center is not unknown in history: during the middle ages people perceived their ego-centers as the heart, while today they are more likely to perceive the brain as the seat of the self. However, the prospect of electronically projecting the ego-center to a virtual body or to any virtual space beyond the real body is a totally new phenomenon.
7. Decentered Self
Creating a virtual ego-center decenters the self. Such decentering can be illuminating and instructive or destabilizing and destructive. It is wonderful to imagine that VR will facilitate the decentering process fostering increased charity, empathy, and compassion. The risk, however, is that in some individuals the decentering process may produce weakened self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness and insignificance. Such a downward slide could be dangerous to the integrity of the real person and in extreme cases lead to self-destructive acts.
8. Multiple Identity
If it is possible in VR to enter an altered state, become disembodied, swap genders, assume a different identity, create a virtual ego-center, and decenter the self, then it may also be possible to assume more than one identity at the same time. In this connection, the exponential increase in multiple personalty disorder in recent decades is of more than passing interest (Dennett, 1988) Often viewed as a manifestation of mental illness or personality disorder in the real world, in cyberspace, multiple serial and simultaneous personæ are not only possible but may be even be encouraged.
9. Distributed Being
If one can assume multiple identities, either serially or simultaneously, then it is possible that the self can be re-integrated: re-created as a single entity with multiple egocenters. This is broadly representative of a kind of distributed being, the nature of which is interesting to ponder. How might such persons differ from an ordinary individual? Might they excel at problem solving -- see the problem from different angles at once -- yet be intolerant of others who had not attained the same perceptual proficiency? Might distributed being prove to be the path to enlightenment? Though no one knows the answers to these questions, the prospect of being able to distribute one's being easily through cyberspace is likely to result in a reshaped personality, improved understanding, increased compassion, and heightened global awareness.
10. Dissociative Reactions and Psychotic Breaks
The potential that VR presents has serious implications for social interaction, for human consciousness, and for what it means to be human. More urgent are its serious implications for mental health, particularly for those on drugs, and those with existing reality impairment and mental or emotional illness. Anticipating William Gibson's Neuromancer and the Cyberpunk gendre came the warning:
For psychiatry, the message is clear: the symbionic technology of the 21st century may bring with it new kinds emotional disturbance, and new kinds of mental illness. If hysteria characterized the 19th century, and anxiety the 20th century, the 21st century may well be the century of what we might call the "symbionic syndrome": technologicallyinduced disaffect characterized by increased existential loneliness, alienation, powerlessness, and disembodiment (Cartwright, 1983).
The dangers inherent in virtual reality and cyberspace are real: As Pesce (1993) has noted, cyberspace can hurt you! One can well imagine a future Cyberspace Travel Advisory: "Visitors to cyberspace today reported a number of psychotic breaks and pathogenic states. Only travellers who are well equipped emotionally and who understand the psychological terrain should venture there. If you must go, exercise caution!" References
Cartwright, Glenn F. (1977). Computer conferencing as an educational tool. Learning and Development, 8(5), 1-4.
Cartwright, Glenn F. (1983). Toward a new level of awareness: Symbionic consciousness. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Social Psychiatry, New York.
Cartwright, Glenn F. & Silva, Marcos R. (in press). Cyberteaching: Teaching about and within cyberspace. Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference on Multimedia in Education and Industry. Savannah, GA.
Curtis, P. & Nichols, D. (1993). MUDs grow up: Social virtual reality in the Real world. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Dennett, Daniel. (1988). The evolution of consciousness. The Jacobsen Lecture, University of London. Medford, MA: Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University.
Gibson, William (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books.
Howlett, E. M. (1990). Wide angle orthostereo. In Merritt, J. O. and Fisher, S. S. (Eds.) Stereoscopic displays and Applications. Bellingham, WA: The International Society for Optical Engineering.
Johansen, R., Miller, R., & Vallee, J. (1974). Group communication through electronic media: Fundamental choices and social effects. Educational Technology, 14, 7-20.
Jouzaitis, C. (1993). The data highway on its way. Chicago Tribune, May 10, pp. C1, C4.
Kehoe, B. (1993). Zen and the art of the internet: a beginner's guide. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Krol, Ed. (1993). The whole Internet: user's guide & catalog [Corr. ed.]. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates.
LaQuey, T. (1993). The Internet companion: a beginner's guide to global networking. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley.
Lincoln, B., & Kahle, B. ([1992]). WAIS: Wide Area Information Servers. Menlo Park, CA: Thinking Machines.
Lottor, M. (1993). Internet Domain Survey. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. [Computer file, sent to various listserv discussion groups by [email protected]]
Pesce, M. (1993). Final amputation: Pathogenic ontology in cyberspace. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Psotka, J. (1993). Factors affecting the location of virtual egocenters: From the renaissance to cyberspace. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Rheingold, Howard. (1991). Virtual Reality. New York, NY: Touchstone.
Sakkas, L. (1993). Politics on the Internet. Interpersonal Computing and Technology: an electronic Journal for the 21st Century, 1(2). [Computer file, to retrieve send the following e-mail message to LISTSERV@GUVM or LISTSERVGUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU, GET SAKKAS IPCTV1N2]
Silva, Marcos, & Cartwright, Glenn F. (in press). The Internet as a Medium for Education and Educational Research. Education Libraries.
Silva, Marcos, & Cartwright, Glenn F. (1992). The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE). The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 3, 4-14. [Computer file, to retrieve send the following e-mail message to LISTSERVUHUPVM1 or LISTSERVUHUPVM1.UH.EDU, GET SILVA PRV3N6 F=MAIL]
Turkle, S. (1993). Constructions and reconstructions of the self in virtual reality. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Cyberspace, Austin, TX.
Vallee, J. (1974). Network conferencing. Datamation, 20(5), 8592.
Vallee, J., Johansen, R., and Spangler, K. (1975, June). The computer conference: An altered state of communication? The Futurist. 3, 116121.
HGA Io - 1982
The Virtual Multiverse Theory of Free Will, Ben Goertzel, February 18, 2004
Introduction
This note presents a novel, system-theoretic explanation of the psychological phenomenon of “free will,” in terms of the dynamics and interactions of different parts of the brain. The theory integrates neuropsychological observations of Libet and Gazzaniga, but it also has a generality that extends beyond human brains to other forms of intelligence, including computational ones. The relationship of free will with the phenomenon of consciousness is also addressed.
Virtual Multiverse Modeling and Free Will
Suppose one has a world whose governing dynamic has a high Liapunov exponent (Devaney, 2003), so that a small region of state space at time t is dynamically mapped into a much larger region of state space at size t+s, even if s is small. Then, an intelligent system (let’s call it a “brain” for short, though it may be computational or biological), in order to plan for the future, must create a virtual multiverse inside itself: i.e. at time t it must model several different future states for time t+s, since it doesn’t know which future state will actually occur. It must create a virtual multiverse with branch-points regarding its own external actions, and its own internal events, as well as external events not directly caused by itself. This is what our brains do all the time.
The notion of a “multiverse” here is motivated by quantum mechanics (DeWitt and Seligman, 1974). However, the theory I am proposing here is not a quantum theory of consciousness; it is compatible with both quantum and classical physics. What I mean by a multiverse is a model of reality like the one explored by Borges in his famous tale The Garden of Forking Paths (see Borges, 1999). Borges portrayed the world as consisting of pathways defining series of events, in which each pathway eventually reaches a decision-point at which it forks out into more than one future pathway. Borges’ “paths” are the “branches” of the mathematical “tree structures” used to model multiverses; and his decision points are the nodes or “branch-points” of the trees.
Actual reality is then considered as a single “universe” which is a single series of events defined by following one series of branching-choices through the mathematical tree. The many-universes interpretation of quantum physics posits that the multiverse is physically real, even though we as individuals only see one universe; and that an act of quantum measurement consist of a choice of direction at a branching point in the multiverse tree. On the other hand, what I am hypothesizing here is that we perceive a psychologically real multiverse – independently of whether there is a real physical multiverse or not – and that free will has something to do (details to follow shortly) with the choice of directions at branch-points in this psychological multiverse.
We know that the cognitive portions of brains do not directly experience the external universe; they only experience their own models of the external universe. This is demonstrated by many experiments regarding perceptual illusions, for example (Maturana and Varela, 1992). What this means is that, even if we should happen to live in a strictly deterministic universe[1], we subjectively live in a multiverse in which several different possible branches are subjectively real at any given time. But most of these branches are very short-lived: they exist only conjecturally while we wait for the next percepts which will tell us which of the branches is actualized.
Furthermore, brains largely experience themselves only via their models of themselves. Brains, being complex systems, are hard to predict even for themselves, and so one part of a brain often must use a virtual multiverse to model another part.
When a brain triggers a real-world action, this action occurs in the external universe, and then registers internally in the virtual multiverse which models the external universe. The brain is then aware of a process of “collapse” wherein the multiple branches of the virtual multiverse collapse to a single branch. Furthermore, this collapsing process occurs rapidly, within the same subjectively experienced moment as the actual event in the physical universe. Note that a subjectively experienced moment is not instantaneous.
Similarly, when a part of a brain carries out an action, and another part of the intelligent system is modeling this first part using a virtual multiverse, then the action in the first part corresponds with a collapse to a single branch in the virtual multiverse contained in the second part.
The special feeling of “free will” that we experience consists primarily of the subjectively-simultaneous consciousness of
an event occurring in the external universe
or else the simultaneous consciousness of
Libet (2000) has done experiments showing that, in many cases, the “decision” to carry out an action occurs after the neural signals directly triggering the action have already occurred. This observation fits in perfectly with the virtual multiverse theory. Note that this time interval is sufficiently short that the action and the decision occur within the same subjectively experienced moment. In fact, Libet’s results, though often presented as counterintuitive, are explained naturally by the current theory – it’s the opposite result, that perceived-virtual-multiverse-collapses occurred after the corresponding actions, that would be more problematic for the current theory.
Dennett (2003) analyzes Libet’s results by positing that free will is a distributed experience which occurs over an expanse of time (the experienced moment) and a number of different brain systems, and that there is nothing paradoxical about the part of this experience labeled “decision” occurring minutely before the part of this experience labeled “action trigger.” I agree with Dennett’s general observations – and with most of his comments about free will – but I am aiming to achieve a greater level of precision in my analysis of the phenomenon.
For example, suppose I am trying to decide whether to kiss my beautiful neighbor. One part of my brain is involved in a dynamic which will actually determine whether I kiss her or not. Another part of my brain is modeling that first part, and doesn’t know what’s going to happen. A virtual multiverse occurs in this second part of the brain, one branch in which I kiss her, the other in which I don’t. Finally, the first part comes to a conclusion; and the second part collapses its virtual multiverse model almost instantly thereafter.
The brain uses these virtual multiverse models to plan for multiple contingencies, so that it is prepared in advance, no matter what may happen. In the case that one part of the brain is modeling another part of the brain, sometimes the model produced by the second part may affect the actions taken by the first part. For instance, the part (call it B) modeling the action of kissing my neighbor may come to the conclusion that the branch in which I carry out the action is a bad one. This may affect the part (call it A) actually determining whether to carry out the kiss, causing the kiss not to occur. The dynamic in A which causes the kiss not to occur, is then reflected in B as a collapse in its virtual multiverse model of A.
Now, suppose that the timing of these two causal effects (from B to A and from A to B) is different. Suppose that the effect of B on A (of the model on the action) takes a while to happen (spanning several subjective moments), whereas the effect of A and B (of the action on the model) is nearly instantaneous (occurring within a single subjective moment). Then, another part of the brain, C, may record the fact that a collapse to definiteness in B’s virtual multiverse model of A, preceded an action in A. On the other hand, the other direction of causality, in which the action in A caused a collapse in B’s model of A, may be so fast that no other part of the brain notices that this was anything but simultaneous. In this case, various parts of the brain may gather the mistaken impression that virtual multiverse collapse causes actions; when in fact it’s the other way around. This, I conjecture, is the origin of our mistaken impression that we make “decisions” that cause our actions.
The “illusion” of free will, therefore, consists largely of a mistaken impression gathered by some parts of the brain about the ordering of events in other parts of the brain. It consists of a confusion between two different roles played by virtual multiverse models:
Because in the former, multiple-subjective-moment case, virtual multiverse collapse precedes action-determination, the brain mistakenly infers that in the latter, single-subjective-moment case, virtual multiverse collapse also precedes action-determination. But in fact, in the latter case virtual multiverse collapse follows action-determination.
However, it is not an illusion or confusion that virtual multiverse modeling has an impact on actions taken in the brain. This kind of modeling is clearly a very valuable part of brain dynamics, due to the complex and hard-to-predict nature of the brain and world. Virtual multiverse modeling is necessary due to practical indeterminism within and outside the brain, which exists whether or not fundamental indeterminism does. It is necessary because internal and external events are often indeterministic from the subjective perspective of particular, useful parts of the brain. Furthermore, and critically, the brain as a whole is often indeterministic from its own perspective.
Confabulation
Another side of free will is the “confabulative” aspect emphasized by Michael Gazzaniga in his discussions of his famous split-brain experiments. These experiments demonstrate that, even when there is a clear external cause of a human taking some action, it is possible for the human to sincerely and thoroughly believe that the cause was some completely internal decision that they took. The left hemisphere of a split brain has no experience of stimuli delivered exclusively to the right hemisphere (e.g. through the left eye). However, the left hemisphere has such a strong motivation to create explanations that it will make up “free will stories” corresponding to behaviors initiated by the isolated right hemisphere.
For example, in one experiment, a split brain subject's left eye received a command to stand. The person stood – and then, when asked why she stood up, she responded (using the language center of her left hemisphere) that she wanted a soda. In another experiment, when the left and right hemispheres were each asked to pick an appropriate picture to accord with an image flashed only to that hemisphere, the left selected a chicken to match the chicken claw in the picture it saw, while the right hemisphere correctly chose a shovel to remove the snow it saw. When asked why the person chose those images, he replied that the claw was for the chicken, and the shovel was to clean out the shed (Gazzaniga, 1989).
Confabulation means that, when a certain branch in the virtual multiverse has been chosen, the brain looks for reasons why it was chosen. If no immediate reasons are available, it will use inference to create reasons. Often these inferences will be accurate; sometimes they will be erroneous. Split brain surgery creates a situation in which erroneous inference of this nature are much more common than usual. It happens that in humans this explanation-generating inference tends to take place in the left brain hemisphere; but the same post-facto explanation-generating dynamic may be expected to exist in nonhuman intelligences as well, regardless of whether their brains display any hemispheric dichotomy.
Confabulation adds a third aspect to virtual multiverse dynamics: not only do virtual multiverse inferences/simulations affect actions, and actions cause updating of virtual multiverse simulations; but also, reasoning about actions causes inferred stories to be attached to the memories of virtual-multiverse collapses.
Consciousness
Finally, the present theory of free will also partially addresses the phenomenon of consciousness. Some aspects of consciousness can be understood by thinking about the virtual multiverse models that parts of the brain construct, in order to model the brain as a whole. These virtual multiverse models are used to help guide the dynamics of the whole brain (on a slow time scale), and they are also continually updated to reflect the actual dynamics of the brain (on a faster time scale, occurring within a single subjective moment). The feeling of consciousness is in part the feeling of events in the whole brain being rapidly reflected in the changes in the virtual multiverse models maintained in parts of the brain … and these changes then causing further virtual-multiverse-model changes which then feed back to change the state of the whole brain again … etc. The conscious feeling of the flow of time is actually a feeling of continual ongoing branch-selection in the virtual multiverse model of the whole brain – the feeling of briefly-explored possible futures being left by the wayside as the actualized futures are registered in the model.
Dennett (1992) analyzed human consciousness as a serial computer running as a virtual machine on top of a parallel computer (the “parallel computer” being the unconscious, which comprises the majority of brain function). However, I don’t think this is quite right. Rather, I think human consciousness has to do with the feedback between virtual multiverse modeler software (embodied in various parts of the brain) and massively parallel software (the rest of the brain). The virtual universe modeler software is not exactly a serial computation process, it may well explore multiple branches in parallel.
The virtual-multiverse theory of free will does not explicitly solve the “hard problem of consciousness” (Chalmers, 1997), the relationship between subjective awareness (“qualia”) and physical phenomena. However, it does fit in naturally with a particular hypothetical solution to the hard problem. Suppose one accepts, as a solution to the hard problem, the postulate that a quale occurs when a system comes to display a pattern that it did not display a moment before; and the more prominent patterns correspond to the more intense qualia.[2] Then, it follows from the present theory of free will that intense qualia will tend to be correlated with significant activity in the whole-brain virtual multiverse modeler. This provides an explanation for the oft-perceived correlation between consciousness and free will (free will also often being associated with significant activity in the whole-brain virtual multiverse modeler).
Conclusion
What I have proposed here is a conceptual model of free will in terms of virtual multiverse modeling, but it also leads to some specific empirical predictions. Study of the human brain, as brain imaging improves, should allow us to localize the brain’s multiverse modeling faculties (assuming these exist, as I hypothesize), and then to study whether the dynamics of interaction between these faculties and the rest of the brain are indeed as I have hypothesized. Regarding artificial intelligence, the hypothesis made is that if an AI program is created with a virtual-multiverse-modeling faculty that is embedded into its overall dynamic process in a manner roughly similar to how this embedding occurs in the human mind/brain, then the AI will describe its decision-making experiences in roughly the same way that humans describe their experience of free will.
References
· Borges, Jorge Luis (1999). Collected Fictions. Viking.
· Chalmers, David (1997). The Conscious Mind. Oxford University Press.
· Dennett, Daniel (1992). Consciousness Explained. Back Bay Books.
· Dennett, Daniel (2003). Freedom Evolves. Viking.
· Devaney, Robert (2003). An Introduction to Chaotic Dynamical Systems. Westview Press.
· Dewitt, Bryce and C. Seligman (1974). The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton University Press.
· Gazzaniga, Michael (1989). "Organization of the Human Brain," Science, Sept., pp. 947-956
· Libet, B., A. Freeman and K. Sutherland (2000). The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will. Imprint Academic.
· Maturana, Humberto and Francisco Varela (1992). The Tree of Knowledge. Shambhala.
· Peirce, Charles S. (1982). Collected Works Volume 5. Indiana University Press.
This note presents a novel, system-theoretic explanation of the psychological phenomenon of “free will,” in terms of the dynamics and interactions of different parts of the brain. The theory integrates neuropsychological observations of Libet and Gazzaniga, but it also has a generality that extends beyond human brains to other forms of intelligence, including computational ones. The relationship of free will with the phenomenon of consciousness is also addressed.
Virtual Multiverse Modeling and Free Will
Suppose one has a world whose governing dynamic has a high Liapunov exponent (Devaney, 2003), so that a small region of state space at time t is dynamically mapped into a much larger region of state space at size t+s, even if s is small. Then, an intelligent system (let’s call it a “brain” for short, though it may be computational or biological), in order to plan for the future, must create a virtual multiverse inside itself: i.e. at time t it must model several different future states for time t+s, since it doesn’t know which future state will actually occur. It must create a virtual multiverse with branch-points regarding its own external actions, and its own internal events, as well as external events not directly caused by itself. This is what our brains do all the time.
The notion of a “multiverse” here is motivated by quantum mechanics (DeWitt and Seligman, 1974). However, the theory I am proposing here is not a quantum theory of consciousness; it is compatible with both quantum and classical physics. What I mean by a multiverse is a model of reality like the one explored by Borges in his famous tale The Garden of Forking Paths (see Borges, 1999). Borges portrayed the world as consisting of pathways defining series of events, in which each pathway eventually reaches a decision-point at which it forks out into more than one future pathway. Borges’ “paths” are the “branches” of the mathematical “tree structures” used to model multiverses; and his decision points are the nodes or “branch-points” of the trees.
Actual reality is then considered as a single “universe” which is a single series of events defined by following one series of branching-choices through the mathematical tree. The many-universes interpretation of quantum physics posits that the multiverse is physically real, even though we as individuals only see one universe; and that an act of quantum measurement consist of a choice of direction at a branching point in the multiverse tree. On the other hand, what I am hypothesizing here is that we perceive a psychologically real multiverse – independently of whether there is a real physical multiverse or not – and that free will has something to do (details to follow shortly) with the choice of directions at branch-points in this psychological multiverse.
We know that the cognitive portions of brains do not directly experience the external universe; they only experience their own models of the external universe. This is demonstrated by many experiments regarding perceptual illusions, for example (Maturana and Varela, 1992). What this means is that, even if we should happen to live in a strictly deterministic universe[1], we subjectively live in a multiverse in which several different possible branches are subjectively real at any given time. But most of these branches are very short-lived: they exist only conjecturally while we wait for the next percepts which will tell us which of the branches is actualized.
Furthermore, brains largely experience themselves only via their models of themselves. Brains, being complex systems, are hard to predict even for themselves, and so one part of a brain often must use a virtual multiverse to model another part.
When a brain triggers a real-world action, this action occurs in the external universe, and then registers internally in the virtual multiverse which models the external universe. The brain is then aware of a process of “collapse” wherein the multiple branches of the virtual multiverse collapse to a single branch. Furthermore, this collapsing process occurs rapidly, within the same subjectively experienced moment as the actual event in the physical universe. Note that a subjectively experienced moment is not instantaneous.
Similarly, when a part of a brain carries out an action, and another part of the intelligent system is modeling this first part using a virtual multiverse, then the action in the first part corresponds with a collapse to a single branch in the virtual multiverse contained in the second part.
The special feeling of “free will” that we experience consists primarily of the subjectively-simultaneous consciousness of
an event occurring in the external universe
- a collapse-to-a-single-branch occurring in the brain’s internal virtual multiverse
or else the simultaneous consciousness of
- an event occurring in one part of the brain
- a collapse-to-a-single-branch occurring in the virtual multiverse used by another part of the brain to model the first part
Libet (2000) has done experiments showing that, in many cases, the “decision” to carry out an action occurs after the neural signals directly triggering the action have already occurred. This observation fits in perfectly with the virtual multiverse theory. Note that this time interval is sufficiently short that the action and the decision occur within the same subjectively experienced moment. In fact, Libet’s results, though often presented as counterintuitive, are explained naturally by the current theory – it’s the opposite result, that perceived-virtual-multiverse-collapses occurred after the corresponding actions, that would be more problematic for the current theory.
Dennett (2003) analyzes Libet’s results by positing that free will is a distributed experience which occurs over an expanse of time (the experienced moment) and a number of different brain systems, and that there is nothing paradoxical about the part of this experience labeled “decision” occurring minutely before the part of this experience labeled “action trigger.” I agree with Dennett’s general observations – and with most of his comments about free will – but I am aiming to achieve a greater level of precision in my analysis of the phenomenon.
For example, suppose I am trying to decide whether to kiss my beautiful neighbor. One part of my brain is involved in a dynamic which will actually determine whether I kiss her or not. Another part of my brain is modeling that first part, and doesn’t know what’s going to happen. A virtual multiverse occurs in this second part of the brain, one branch in which I kiss her, the other in which I don’t. Finally, the first part comes to a conclusion; and the second part collapses its virtual multiverse model almost instantly thereafter.
The brain uses these virtual multiverse models to plan for multiple contingencies, so that it is prepared in advance, no matter what may happen. In the case that one part of the brain is modeling another part of the brain, sometimes the model produced by the second part may affect the actions taken by the first part. For instance, the part (call it B) modeling the action of kissing my neighbor may come to the conclusion that the branch in which I carry out the action is a bad one. This may affect the part (call it A) actually determining whether to carry out the kiss, causing the kiss not to occur. The dynamic in A which causes the kiss not to occur, is then reflected in B as a collapse in its virtual multiverse model of A.
Now, suppose that the timing of these two causal effects (from B to A and from A to B) is different. Suppose that the effect of B on A (of the model on the action) takes a while to happen (spanning several subjective moments), whereas the effect of A and B (of the action on the model) is nearly instantaneous (occurring within a single subjective moment). Then, another part of the brain, C, may record the fact that a collapse to definiteness in B’s virtual multiverse model of A, preceded an action in A. On the other hand, the other direction of causality, in which the action in A caused a collapse in B’s model of A, may be so fast that no other part of the brain notices that this was anything but simultaneous. In this case, various parts of the brain may gather the mistaken impression that virtual multiverse collapse causes actions; when in fact it’s the other way around. This, I conjecture, is the origin of our mistaken impression that we make “decisions” that cause our actions.
The “illusion” of free will, therefore, consists largely of a mistaken impression gathered by some parts of the brain about the ordering of events in other parts of the brain. It consists of a confusion between two different roles played by virtual multiverse models:
- assisting in the determination of actions (which happens sometimes, and with a significant time lag)
- registering already-occurred actions (which happens more often, and almost instantaneously)
Because in the former, multiple-subjective-moment case, virtual multiverse collapse precedes action-determination, the brain mistakenly infers that in the latter, single-subjective-moment case, virtual multiverse collapse also precedes action-determination. But in fact, in the latter case virtual multiverse collapse follows action-determination.
However, it is not an illusion or confusion that virtual multiverse modeling has an impact on actions taken in the brain. This kind of modeling is clearly a very valuable part of brain dynamics, due to the complex and hard-to-predict nature of the brain and world. Virtual multiverse modeling is necessary due to practical indeterminism within and outside the brain, which exists whether or not fundamental indeterminism does. It is necessary because internal and external events are often indeterministic from the subjective perspective of particular, useful parts of the brain. Furthermore, and critically, the brain as a whole is often indeterministic from its own perspective.
Confabulation
Another side of free will is the “confabulative” aspect emphasized by Michael Gazzaniga in his discussions of his famous split-brain experiments. These experiments demonstrate that, even when there is a clear external cause of a human taking some action, it is possible for the human to sincerely and thoroughly believe that the cause was some completely internal decision that they took. The left hemisphere of a split brain has no experience of stimuli delivered exclusively to the right hemisphere (e.g. through the left eye). However, the left hemisphere has such a strong motivation to create explanations that it will make up “free will stories” corresponding to behaviors initiated by the isolated right hemisphere.
For example, in one experiment, a split brain subject's left eye received a command to stand. The person stood – and then, when asked why she stood up, she responded (using the language center of her left hemisphere) that she wanted a soda. In another experiment, when the left and right hemispheres were each asked to pick an appropriate picture to accord with an image flashed only to that hemisphere, the left selected a chicken to match the chicken claw in the picture it saw, while the right hemisphere correctly chose a shovel to remove the snow it saw. When asked why the person chose those images, he replied that the claw was for the chicken, and the shovel was to clean out the shed (Gazzaniga, 1989).
Confabulation means that, when a certain branch in the virtual multiverse has been chosen, the brain looks for reasons why it was chosen. If no immediate reasons are available, it will use inference to create reasons. Often these inferences will be accurate; sometimes they will be erroneous. Split brain surgery creates a situation in which erroneous inference of this nature are much more common than usual. It happens that in humans this explanation-generating inference tends to take place in the left brain hemisphere; but the same post-facto explanation-generating dynamic may be expected to exist in nonhuman intelligences as well, regardless of whether their brains display any hemispheric dichotomy.
Confabulation adds a third aspect to virtual multiverse dynamics: not only do virtual multiverse inferences/simulations affect actions, and actions cause updating of virtual multiverse simulations; but also, reasoning about actions causes inferred stories to be attached to the memories of virtual-multiverse collapses.
Consciousness
Finally, the present theory of free will also partially addresses the phenomenon of consciousness. Some aspects of consciousness can be understood by thinking about the virtual multiverse models that parts of the brain construct, in order to model the brain as a whole. These virtual multiverse models are used to help guide the dynamics of the whole brain (on a slow time scale), and they are also continually updated to reflect the actual dynamics of the brain (on a faster time scale, occurring within a single subjective moment). The feeling of consciousness is in part the feeling of events in the whole brain being rapidly reflected in the changes in the virtual multiverse models maintained in parts of the brain … and these changes then causing further virtual-multiverse-model changes which then feed back to change the state of the whole brain again … etc. The conscious feeling of the flow of time is actually a feeling of continual ongoing branch-selection in the virtual multiverse model of the whole brain – the feeling of briefly-explored possible futures being left by the wayside as the actualized futures are registered in the model.
Dennett (1992) analyzed human consciousness as a serial computer running as a virtual machine on top of a parallel computer (the “parallel computer” being the unconscious, which comprises the majority of brain function). However, I don’t think this is quite right. Rather, I think human consciousness has to do with the feedback between virtual multiverse modeler software (embodied in various parts of the brain) and massively parallel software (the rest of the brain). The virtual universe modeler software is not exactly a serial computation process, it may well explore multiple branches in parallel.
The virtual-multiverse theory of free will does not explicitly solve the “hard problem of consciousness” (Chalmers, 1997), the relationship between subjective awareness (“qualia”) and physical phenomena. However, it does fit in naturally with a particular hypothetical solution to the hard problem. Suppose one accepts, as a solution to the hard problem, the postulate that a quale occurs when a system comes to display a pattern that it did not display a moment before; and the more prominent patterns correspond to the more intense qualia.[2] Then, it follows from the present theory of free will that intense qualia will tend to be correlated with significant activity in the whole-brain virtual multiverse modeler. This provides an explanation for the oft-perceived correlation between consciousness and free will (free will also often being associated with significant activity in the whole-brain virtual multiverse modeler).
Conclusion
What I have proposed here is a conceptual model of free will in terms of virtual multiverse modeling, but it also leads to some specific empirical predictions. Study of the human brain, as brain imaging improves, should allow us to localize the brain’s multiverse modeling faculties (assuming these exist, as I hypothesize), and then to study whether the dynamics of interaction between these faculties and the rest of the brain are indeed as I have hypothesized. Regarding artificial intelligence, the hypothesis made is that if an AI program is created with a virtual-multiverse-modeling faculty that is embedded into its overall dynamic process in a manner roughly similar to how this embedding occurs in the human mind/brain, then the AI will describe its decision-making experiences in roughly the same way that humans describe their experience of free will.
References
· Borges, Jorge Luis (1999). Collected Fictions. Viking.
· Chalmers, David (1997). The Conscious Mind. Oxford University Press.
· Dennett, Daniel (1992). Consciousness Explained. Back Bay Books.
· Dennett, Daniel (2003). Freedom Evolves. Viking.
· Devaney, Robert (2003). An Introduction to Chaotic Dynamical Systems. Westview Press.
· Dewitt, Bryce and C. Seligman (1974). The Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton University Press.
· Gazzaniga, Michael (1989). "Organization of the Human Brain," Science, Sept., pp. 947-956
· Libet, B., A. Freeman and K. Sutherland (2000). The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will. Imprint Academic.
· Maturana, Humberto and Francisco Varela (1992). The Tree of Knowledge. Shambhala.
· Peirce, Charles S. (1982). Collected Works Volume 5. Indiana University Press.
