ON THE POSSIBILITY OF DIRECTLY ACCESSING EVERY HUMAN
BRAIN BY ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION OF FUNDAMENTAL ALGORITHMS
By Professor Michael A. Persinger
Laurentian University, Ontario
June 1995
(Perceptual and Motor Skills, June 1995,
80, 791-799 ISSN 0031-5125)
[This statement by the author of the
following paper says it all:
"Within the last two
decades (Persinger, Ludwig, & Ossenkopp,1973) a potential has emerged which
was improbable but which is now marginally feasible. This potential is the
technical capability to influence directly the major portion of the
approximately six billion brains of the human species through classical sensory
modalities by generating neural information within a physical medium within
which all members of the species are immersed."
The medium that he is
referring to, is the atmosphere of this planet]
Summary:-- Contemporary neuroscience
suggests the existence of fundamental algorithms by which all sensory transduction
is translated into the intrinsic, brain-specific code. Direct stimulation of
these codes within the human temporal or limbic cortices by applied
electromagnetic patterns may require energy levels which are within the range
of both geomagnetic activity and contemporary communication networks. A process
which is coupled to the narrow band of brain temperature could allow all normal
human brains to be affected by a subharmonic whose frequency range at about 10
Hz would only vary by 0.1 Hz.
The pursuit of the basic algorithms
by which all human brains operate can be considered a central theme of modern
neuroscience. Although individual differences are expected to accommodate most
of the variance in any specific neurobehavioral measure, there should exist
basic patterns of information and structure within brain space. They would be
determined by the human genome, i.e., be species-specific, and would contribute
to or would serve as the substrate upon which all phenomena that affect
neurobehavioral measures are superimposed.
One logical extrapolation to a
neuro-physical basis of consciousness is that all experiences must exist as
correlates of complex but determined sequences of electromagnetic matrices.
They would control the theme for the format of cognition and affect while the
myriad of possible serial collections of random variations of "noise"
within the matrices could potentially differentiate between individual brains.
Identification of these sequences could also allow direct access to the most complex
neuro-cognitive processes associated with the sense of self, human
consciousness and the aggregate of experiential representations (episodic
memory) that define the individual within the brain (Squire, 1987).
The existence of fundamental commonalities between all human
brains by which a similar physical stimulus can affect them is not a new
concept. It is demonstrated daily by the similar shifts in qualitative
functions that are evoked by psychotropic drugs. Classes of chemical
structures, crudely classified as antidepressant, antipsychotic, or anxiolytic
compounds, produce general attenuations of lowered mood, extreme eccentric
thinking, or extreme vigilance. The characteristics of these changes are very
similar within millions of different human brains regardless of their cultural
or genetic history. The idiosyncratic experiences such as the specific thoughts
and images that reflect each person's continuing process of adaptation are
superimposed upon these general functions. When translated into the language of
neuroelectrical domains, the unique components of individual consciousness
would be both embedded within and interacting with the species-invariant
patterns.
We have been studying the
phenomenological consequences of exposure to complex electromagnetic fields
whose temporal structures have been derived from the most recently observed
neuro-electrical profiles such as burst-firing or long-term potentiating
sequences (Brown, Chapman, Kairiss, & Keenan, 1988) which can be considered
the prototypical basis of a major domain of brain activity. These temporal
patterns of potential codes for accessing and influencing neuronal aggregates
have been applied across the two cerebral hemispheres (through the regions of
the temporoparietal lobes or within the region of the hippocampal-amygdaloid
complex) of the brain as weak electromagnetic fields whose intensities are
usually less than 10 milligauss (1 microT). The purpose of this research, as
suggested by both E.R. John (1967) and Sommerhoff (1974), is to identify the
basic codes for the language of the representational systems within the human
brain.
In the tradition of Johannes
Mueller, we have assumed that the normal transduction of stimuli by sensors
into afferent, graded potentials and the subsequent translation into digital
patterns of action potentials (which are more likely to behave functionally as
a composite of pixels within a neural field) can be circumvented by direct
introduction of this information within the brain. Induction of complex information
would require simulation of the resonance patterns which would normally be
transiently created by sensory afferents. The basic premise is that synthetic
duplication of the neuro-electrical correlates generated by sensors to an
actual stimulus should produce identical experiences without the presence of
that stimulus.
We have focused upon the polymodal
and most labile portions of the parahippocampal (Van Hoesen, 1982) and
entorhinal cortices (Vinagradova, 1975) and the anterior superior gyrus of the
temporal cortices (Bancaud, Brunet-Bourgin, Chauvel, & Halgren, 1994) as
the region within which circumvention would be most probable. Extraction and
translation of neural patterns from different sensory inputs into common codes
occur within these regions before they are consciously perceived (Edelman,
1989). That central codes are present was shown by E.R. John (1967, pp.
348-349) who reported an immediate transference of the operant control of a
response from a pulsatile auditory stimulus to a pulsatile visual stimulus if
its temporal pattern was identical to the previous (acoustic) stimulus.
We (Fleming, Persinger, & Koren,
1994) reported that whole brain exposure of rats to a 5-microT burst-firing
magnetic field for 1 sec. every 4 sec. evoked an analgesic response that was
similar to that elicited by the application of more noxious, tactile simulation
for 1 sec. every 4 sec. directly to the footpads. Direct electrical stimulation
of the limbic structures which simulate episodic, systemic application of muscarinic
(cholinergic) agents can evoke electrical kindling (Cain, 1989). More recently,
direct induction of chaotic electrical sequences within the labile CA1 region
of the hippocampus has been shown either to promote and attenuate paroxysmal
discharges (Schiff, Jerger, Duong, Chang, Spano, & Ditto, 1994).
These results strongly indicate that
imitation of the temporal pattern of sensory transmission directly within the
brain by any nonbiogenic stimuli can evoke changes which are just as effective
as (and perhaps require less energy than) classical transduction. As stated
more recently and succinctly by E.R. John (1990), the fundamental operation of
brain electrical activity suggests that some form of frequency encoding may
play a significant role in informational transactions within and between brain
structures. Consciousness would be associated with an electromagnetic pattern
generated by a neural aggregate with invariant statistical features which are
independent of the cells contributing to each feature (John 1990, p. 53).
The effects of applied time-varying
magnetic fields upon brain activity have been considered minimal or within the
range of normal biological limits unless the intensity of the field exceeded
natural endogenous or exogenous (ambient) levels by several orders of
magnitude. Until very recently, almost all of the studies from which this
conclusion was derived involved highly redundant stimuli such as 60 Hz fields
or repetitive pulses. A simple illustration presents the problem: only 1 min.
of a 60-Hz sine-wave field exposes a neural net to 3,600 presentations (60 sec.
x 60 cycles per sec.) of the same redundant information. Even general estimates
of habituation (Persinger, 1979) such as the equation H=IRT2/Rt
(IRT=inter-response time, Rt=duration of response) indicate that habituation to
the stimulus would have occurred long before its termination after 1 min.
Although the burst-firing frequencies (100 to 200 Hz) of the hippocampal
neurons, for example, exceed this pattern, they are not temporally symmetrical
and exhibit a variability of interstimulus intervals that would contain
different information and would attenuate habituation.
The apparent dependence of
organismic responses upon the intensity of the applied electromagnetic field,
the "intensity-dependent response curve," could simply be an artifact
of the absence of biorelevant information within the wave pattern. If the
temporal structure of the applied electromagnetic field contained detailed and
biorelevant information (Richards, Persinger, & Koren, 1993), then the
intensity of the field required to elicit a response could be several orders of
magnitude below the values which have been previously found to elicit changes.
For example, Sandyk (1992) and Jacobson (1994) have found that complex magnetic
fields with variable interstimulus pulse durations could evoke unprecedented
changes in melatonin levels even with intensities within the nanoT range.
The classical counterargument that
"very strong" magnetic fields must be present "to exceed or to
compensate for the electromagnetic noise associated with intrinsic (Boltzmann)
thermal energies" is based upon equations and calculations for the
quantitative indices of aggregates of molecular activity and not upon the
pattern of their interaction. There are other possibilities. For example,
Weaver and Astumian (1990) have shown mathematically that detection of very
weak (microV/cm) fields can occur if the response is exhibited within a narrow
band of frequencies; the detection is a function of both thermally induced
fluctuations in membrane potential and the maximum increment of change in the
membrane potential which is evoked by the applied magnetic field. The
ion-cyclotron-resonance model which was initiated by the research of Blackman,
Bename, Rabinowitz, House, and Joines (1985) and supported by Lerchl, Reiter,
Howes, Honaka, and Stokkan (1991) indicates that, when an alternating magnetic
field at a distance (resonance) frequency is superimposed upon a steady-state
magnetic field, the movement of calcium and other ions can be facilitated with
very small energies. More than 25 years ago, Ludwig (1968) developed a
compelling (but hereto ignored) mathematical argument which described the
absorption of atmospherics within the brain.
Above these minimal thresholds, the
information content of the wave structure becomes essential. The simplest
analogy would be the response of a complex neural network such as a human being
to sonic energy. If only a 1000-Hz (sine wave) tone were presented, the
intensity required to evoke a response could well exceed 90 db; in this
instance the avoidant response would be overt and crude. However, if the
structure of the sonic field was modified to exhibit the complex pattern which
was equivalent to biorelevant information such as "help me, I am
dying," field strengths several orders of magnitude weaker, e.g., 30 db,
could be sufficient. This single, brief but information-rich stimulus would
evoke a response which could recruit every major cognitive domain.
If the information within the
structure of the applied magnetic field is a major source of its
neurobehavioral effect, then the "intensity-dependent" responses
which are interpreted as support for experimental hypotheses of biomagnetic
interaction could be both epiphenomenal and artifactual. Such amplification of
electromagnetic-field strengths would also increase the intensity of the
extremely subtle and almost always ignored subharmonics, ripples, and other
temporal anomalies which are superimposed upon or within the primary frequency.
These subtle anomalies would be due to the artifacts within the different
electronic circuits and components whose similarities are based upon the
fidelity of the endpoint (the primary frequency) despite the different
geometries employed to produce the endpoint.
If information rather than intensity
is important for interaction with the neural network (Jahn & Dunne, 1987),
then these unspecified "background" patterns may be the source of both
the experimental effects and the failures of inter-laboratory replications. A
concrete example of this problem exists within the putative association between
exposure to power (60 Hz) frequency magnetic fields and certain types of
cancer. The existence of these transients, often superimposed upon the
fundamental 60-Hz frequency, is still the least considered factor in the
attempts to specify the characteristics of the fields which promote aberrant
mitosis (Wilson, Stevens, & Anderson, 1990).
Within the last five years, several
researchers have reported that direct and significant effects upon specific
neuropatterns can be evoked by extremely weak magnetic fields whose intensities
are within the range of normal geomagnetic variations. Sandyk (1992) has discerned
significant changes in vulnerable subjects such as patients who were diagnosed
with neurological disorders following exposure of short durations to magnetic
fields whose strengths are within the pT to nT range but whose spatial
applications are multifocal (a fasces-type structure) and designed to introduce
heterogeneous patterns within a very localized brain space. The effective
components of the field (which are assumed to be discrete temporal patterns due
to the modulation of the frequency and intensity of the electromagnetic fields)
are not always obvious; however, the power levels for these amplitudes are
similar to those associated with the signals (generated globally by radio and
communication systems) within which most human beings are exposed constantly.
The most parsimonious process by
which all human brains could be affected would require the immersion of all the
approximately 6 billion brains of the human species within the same medium; or
a coercive interaction because there was facilitation of a very narrow-band
window of vulnerability within each brain.
For the first option, the
steady-state or "permanent" component of the earth's magnetic field
meets the criterion. The possibility that masses of susceptible people could be
influenced during critical conditions by extremely small variations (less than
1%) of the steady-state amplitude (50,000 nT) of the earth's magnetic field
such as during geomagnetic storms (50 to 500 nT) has been discussed elsewhere
(Persinger, 1983). Recent experimental evidence which has shown a threshold in
geomagnetic activity of about 20 nT to 30 nT for the report of vestibular
experiences in human beings and the facilitation of limbic seizures in rodents
is consistent with this hypothesis.
The potential for the creation of an
aggregate process with gestalt-like properties which reflect the average
characteristics of the brains that are maintained with this field and that
generate the aggregate has also been developed (Persinger & Lafreniere,
1977) and has been labelled the "geopsyche." This phenomenon would be
analogous to the vectorial characteristics of an electromagnetic field which is
induced by current moving through billions of elements such as wires contained
within a relative small volume compared to the source. Such gestalts, like
fields in general, also affect the elements which contribute to the matrix
(Freeman, 1990)
The second option would require
access to a very narrow limit of physical properties within which all brains
are maintained to generate consciousness and the experience of self-awareness.
This factor would be primarily loaded by the variable of brain temperature.
Although the relationship between absolute temperature and wavelength is
generally clear [an example which can be described by Wien's law and is well
documented in astrophysics (Wyatt, 1965)], the implications for access to brain
activity have not been explored. The fragile neurocognitive processes that
maintain consciousness and the sense of self normally exist between 308[degrees]K
and 312[degrees]K (35[degrees]C and 39[degrees]C). The fundamental wavelength
associated with this emission is about 10 micrometers which is well within the
long infrared wavelength.
However, the ratio of this normal
range divided by the absolute temperature for normal brain activity which
maintains neurocognitive processes is only about 0.013
(4[degrees]K-312[degrees]K), or 1.3%. If there were a subharmonic pattern in
naturally occurring or technically generated magnetic fields which also
reflected this ratio, then all brains which were operative within this
temperature range could be affected by the harmonic. For example, if 11.3 Hz
were one of these subharmonic electromagnetic frequencies, variations of only
1.3% of this mean, i.e., 11.3 Hz +/- [plus or minus] 0.1 Hz, would
hypothetically be sufficient to affect the operations of all normal brains. If
this "major carrier frequency" contained biorelevant information by
being modulated in a meaningful way, then the effective intensities could well
be within the natural range for background radiation (microwatts/cm2) and could
be hidden as chaotic components within the electromagnetic noise associated
with power generation and use.
One of the major direct
prophylactics to the effects of these fields would require alterations in core
(brain) temperature such as deep but reversible hypothermia. However, this
condition would disrupt the biochemical process upon which neuronal activity
and hence consciousness depends. Treatments which precipitate alterations in neural
activity, similar to those which are associated with crude hypothermia, would
be less disruptive. Specific candidates which affect multiple receptor systems
such as clozepine (Clozaril) and acepromazine could be possible pharmacological
interventions.
The characteristics of the algorithm
for euthermic individuals are likely to be conspicuous (once isolated) but
should now be hidden within the synchronous activity which is modified and
filtered by aggregates of neurons; and modulated by sensory inputs and
intrinsic oscillations (Kepler, Marder, & Abbott, 1990) before they are
crudely measured by electrodes.
Because the fundamental algorithm
would be essentially a stable parameter of body temperature, most electrode
montages (including monopolar to a nonbrain reference, e.g., ear) would cancel
or attenuate this index. Effectively, the algorithm would be expressed in a
manner similar to descriptors for other aggregate phenomena as a physical
constant or as a limited set of these constants. This suggestion is
commensurate with the observation that the underlying neuronal networks which
coordinate millions of neurons manifest the properties of a (mathematical)
strange attractor with a very limited number of degrees of freedom (Lopes, Da
Silva, Kamphuis, Van Neerven, & Pijn, 1990).
The physical chemical evidence for a
fundamental process, driven by a narrow limit of biological temperature, has
been accumulating. Fixed, oscillatory electromagnetic variations have been
shown in vitro for enzymes of the glycolytic pathway (Higgins, Frenkel, Hulme,
Lucas, & Rangazas, 1973) whose narrow band of temperature sensitivity
(around 37[degrees]C) is well known. Although these oscillations are often
measured as periods (2.5-min. cycles), Ruegg (1973) reported a clear temperature
dependence of these oscillations within a range of 1 to 20 Hz between
20[degrees]C and 35[degrees]C in invertebrate muscle.
The most probable brain source which
might serve as the primary modulatory of these biochemical oscillators would
involve structures within the thalamus (Steriade & Deschenes, 1984).
Neuronal aggregates with surprisingly fixed (within 0.1-Hz) oscillations are
found within this structure and depend primarily upon neurons that require
gamma amino butyric acid or GABA (von Krosigk, Bal, & McCormick, 1993).
This inhibitory amino acid is specially derived from the normal,
temperature-sensitive degradation of glucose by the GABA shunt (Delorey &
Olsen, 1994).
Within the last two decades
(Persinger, Ludwig, & Ossenkopp, 1973) a potential has emerged which was
improbable but which is now marginally feasible. This potential is the
technical capability to influence directly the major portion of the
approximately six billion brains of the human species through classical sensory
modalities by generating neural information within a physical medium within
which all members of the species are immersed. The historical emergence of such
possibilities, which have ranged from gunpowder to atomic fission, have
resulted in major changes in the social evolution that occurred inordinately
quickly after the implementation. Reduction of the risk of the inappropriate
application of these technologies requires the continued and open discussion of
their realistic feasibility and implications within the scientific and public
domain.
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*Please send reprint requests and correspondence
to Dr. M.A. Persinger, Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Laurentian, Ramsey
Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada.
[Personal background on Professor
Persinger and his work, from the Laurentian University website at
http://oldwebsite.laurentian.ca/neurosci/_people/Persinger.htm
follows]
Dr.Michael Persinger
I was born 26 June 1945 in Jacksonville Florida. I was
reared primarily in Virginia, Maryland and Wisconsin. After attending Carroll
College (1963-1964), I was graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison
(1967). Psychology ("Psychochemistry") was selected as a major
because it was the interface between the social and physical sciences. I
obtained my M.A. (Physiological Psychology) from the University of Tennessee
and my Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba (1971). I have been employed as a
professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario Canada since 1971.
During this period I have published more than 300 technical articles in
referred journals and have written six books (see full C.V).
My primary philosophical
goal is to discern the commonalities that exist between the sciences and to
integrate the fundamental concepts. I assume that the human brain, its
microstructure and intricate activity are the source of all human knowledge. To
that end I have emphasised geophysics because it is a central focus for the
physical sciences and neuroscience (originally physiological psychology)
because it is a central focus for the emerging biosocial sciences. One of the
major consequences of this bilateral interest has been the pursuit and
discovery of subtle interactions between the geophysical/ meteorological environment
and human behavior.
Because scientific
explanations and attributions are transient labels applied to the largely
inferred and unseen shared sources of variance within numerical data (or verbal
responses that serve as nominal data), I have pursued methodology and
multivariate (statistical) approaches. Magnetic fields were selected as a focus
because they are one of the few stimuli that evoke changes across all levels of
scientific discourse. This perspective was summarized in ELF and VLF Electromagnetic
Field Effects (1974) and Space-Time Transients and Unusual Events (1977). These
approaches in conjunction with the goal of integrating concepts have influenced
my decision to investigate interdisciplinary problems and to apply these skills
both within academic and practical settings.
Within academic settings, I
organized the Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Laurentian University. This
program was one of the first to integrate Chemistry, Biology and Psychology.
The program was developed because there is a subset of students with
integrative capacity who are not "A" students but who are
extraordinary problem solvers who love to learn. Within clinical settings, I
became a Registered Psychologist, specializing in Clinical Neuropsychology, in
order to facilitate the integration of neurology, neuropsychology and
psychology and to develop quantitative methods whose results could help
facilitate the adaptation of people who have sustained mild to moderate brain
traumas. Within the commercial setting, we have pursued the possibility that
control of experience, from depression to memory, may be simulated by
transcerebral application of complex magnetic field patterns associated with
activity of either endogenous or exogenous ligands at the synapses.
As a human being, I am
concerned about the illusionary explanations for human consciousness and the
future of human existence. Consequently after writing the Neuropsychological
Base of God Beliefs (1987), I began the systematic application of complex
electromagnetic fields to discern the patterns that will induce experiences
(sensed presence) that are attributed to the myriad of ego-alien intrusions
which range from gods to aliens. The research is not to demean anyone's
religious/mystical experience but instead to determine which portions of the
brain or its electromagnetic patterns generate the experience. Two thousand
years of philosophy have taught us that attempting to prove or disprove
realities may never have discrete verbal (linguistic) solutions because of the limitation
of this measurement. The research has been encouraged by the historical fact
that most wars and group degradations are coupled implicitly to god beliefs and
to the presumption that those who do not believe the same as the experient are
somehow less human and hence expendable. Although these egocentric propensities
may have had adaptive significance, their utility for the species' future may
be questionable.
Because our work is
interdisciplinary and may be different from what others have done, I insist
that the techniques and results are published within the public forum (the
scientific literature). This procedure will hopefully decrease the probability
that the technology or knowledge will be employed only by a privileged few.
Except for $10,000 given to us in 1983 by a researcher (from the U.S. Navy) who
was interested in magnetic fields and brain activity, all of my work has been
supported out of my pocket primarily from my private practice. Laurentian
University has been consistently supportive by supplying space and
infrastructure. We have been fortunate that the topics of research our
laboratory have preceded the interests of the scientific social community by
about 10 to 15 years.
Keith and Marnie
Elliott’s “REMEDY” Site
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